CD133 expression is not selective for tumor initiating or radioresistant cell populations in the CRC line HCT-116

The hypothesis of certain subpopulations of cancer cells with stem-cell like characteristics that might be responsible for treatment resistance and recurrence of disease is still challenging and under quite controversial discussion. In most studies, surrogate cell surface antigens such as the 92-110 kDa transmembrane glycoprotein CD133 (human Prominin-1) were labeled to isolate particular small cancer cell populations for studying their tumorigenic potential. In colorectal carcinomas (CRC) for example, a small CD133 positive (CD133+) cell population has recently been described to be enriched for tumor-initiating/cancer stem cells (TIC/CSC) as compared to the CD133 negative (CD133) population. Furthermore, it was documented that the CD133+ subpopulation could exclusively be maintained in culture as spheres under serum-free conditions. Addition of serum resulted in cell differentiation, growth in 2-D and downregulation of CD133 expression. This would imply that established colorectal cancer (CRC) cell lines that have been grown under adherent, serum-supplemented conditions for years should be devoid of CD133+ cells and TIC/CSC, respectively, which seems contradictory to the finding that many CRC lines produce tumors in nude mice models. In order to gain insight into this paradox, we studied the expression of CD133 in numerous established CRC lines under standard culture conditions and chose one particular cell line based on its expression pattern to study the behavior of CD133+ / CD133- subpopulations