The roles of CD133 expression in the patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: This study was carried out to investigate the correlation between CD133 and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) clinicopathological features and its impact on survival of the patients with NSCLC.

METHODS: In the first, we detected the level and localization of CD133 protein in NSCLC specimens and confirmed that CD133 expression was closely linked to poor prognosis of NSCLC. Secondly, TCGA genomic data for LUNG (Provisional) was retrieved and analyzed for genetic alterations of CD133 in different lung cancer subtypes. In the last, a comprehensive literature search for relevant studies published up to December 2015 was performed using Medline, EMBASE Classic + EMBASE, and The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Both our experimental results and pooled results of previous studies indicated that CD133 may be used as a prognostic marker for the patients with NSCLC. However, more studies are required to evaluate CD133 potential use in predicting patients' outcome.