Expression of CD133 in human intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: its relation with lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis

Background and aim: Recent studies suggest that CD133 as a cancer stem cell marker play significant roles of promoting invasiveness and metastasis in many solid cancers such as colon cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and so on. The aim of the present study is to explore the role of CD133 in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). Patients and methods: The expression of CD133 and MMP-9 was examined in seventy patients with ICC who underwent hepatic resection and lymphadenectomy by immunohistochemistry, the relationship between CD133 and clinicopathological factors and patient survival was analyzed. Results: The immunopositivity rate of CD133 was 45.7% (32/70) in all seventy patients, and the rate was 72.2% (13/18) in patients with positive lymph node metastasis. The expression of CD133 was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis, tumor differentiation and tumor stage. A significant relationship was also found between the expression of CD133 and MMP-9 which was an important molecule involving the lymph node metastasis of malignancy. The multivariate analysis revealed that the expression of CD133 and tumor staging were independent prognostic factors. Conclusion: CD133 tended to be related to the expression of MMP-9, the incidence of lymph node metastasis and tumor stage of ICC, and it was independently related to poorprognosis.