title: Side population cells isolated from KATO III human gastric cancer cell line have cancer stem cell-like characteristics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether the side population (SP) cells possess cancer stem cell-like characteristics in vitro and the role of SP cells in tumorigenic process in gastric cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed the presence of SP cells in different human gastric carcinoma cell lines, and then isolated and identified the SP cells from the KATO III human gastric cancer cell line by flow cytometry. The clonogenic ability and self-renewal were evaluated by clone and sphere formation assays. The related genes were determined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. To compare tumorigenic ability, SP and non-side population (NSP) cells from the KATO III human gastric cancer cell line were subcutaneously injected into nude mice.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SP cells from the total population accounted for 0.57% in KATO III, 1.04% in Hs-746T, and 0.02% in AGS (CRL-1739). SP cells could grow clonally and have self-renewal capability in conditioned media. The expression of ABCG2, MDRI, Bmi-1 and Oct-4 was different between SP and NSP cells. However, there was no apparent difference between SP and NSP cells when they were injected into nude mice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SP cells have some cancer stem cell-like characteristics in vitro and can be used for studying the tumorigenic process in gastric cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Medical College, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China. sjuns@sina.com
authors.forename: Jun-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: She
authors.forename: Peng-Ge
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiang-Ming
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Che
authors.forename: Zi-Ming
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D020168:ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Member 1 / Q000378:metabolism; D000070997:ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily G, Member 2; D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3 / Q000378:metabolism; D063150:Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 / Q000378:metabolism; D058985:Side-Population Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous
chemical_list: C116614:ABCG2 protein, human; D020168:ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Member 1; D000070997:ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily G, Member 2; D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; C069077:BMI1 protein, human; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3; C494173:POU5F1 protein, human; D063150:Polycomb Repressive Complex 1