Prognostic Value of Glioma Cancer Stem Cell Isolation in Survival of Primary Glioblastoma Patients

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been reported to be critical in the initiation, maintenance, and progression of cancers. The expression of stem cell markers, such as podoplanin (PDPN), CD133, and nestin, may have been correlated with malignant progression. However, the effects of CSCs and stem cell markers on clinical outcomes in cancer patients remain unclear. In this study, we assessed the prognostic roles of glioma CSCs (gCSCs) isolation and stem cell markers in patients with primary glioblastoma (pGBM). A cohort of 39 patients with pGBM was separated into two groups, those positive or negative for gCSCs, and the correlation between gCSC and patient survival was evaluated. We observed significantly different cumulative survival (P = 0.045) when comparing patients positive for gCSCs patients and negative for gCSC. Among the patients positive for gCSCs, we observed no significant differences in survival between those whose gCSCs were each positive or negative for PDPN, CD133, or nestin. This study strongly supports the prognostic value of gCSCs isolation on the survival of patients with pGBM.This study was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (NRF-2013R1A1A2006427) and by a Grant of the Korean Health Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (HI13C1509). It was also supported by the National Research Foundation and Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Korean Government, through its National Nuclear Technology Program (2012M2B2B1055639)