Page 218 - ebook

[B. Cell Biology/Stem Cell] B-44

The potential of CD109 as a novel cancer stem-like cell

marker for the diagnosis of ovarian cancer

Jun Se Kim¹, Dae Kyoung Kim¹, Seo Yul Lee¹, Min Joo Shin¹, Ho Jun Kim¹, Seoung Min Choi¹,

Jae Ho Kim¹*

¹Physiology, School of Medicine, Yangsan-si 50612, Korea

Ovarian cancer is the deadliest gynecological malignancy due to development of chemoresistance and relapse. To

enhance the therapeutic effect of ovarian cancer, it is necessary to develop an effective method for identification,
isolation, and targeting of ovarian cancer stem cells. In this study, we isolated CSCs through sphere culture of A2780

epithelial ovarian cancer cells and primary ovarian cancer cells derived from patients. We identified the expression
of CD109 in A2780 ovarian cancer cells and observed that the intensity and the frequency CD109 expression

significantly increased in the sphere culture of A2780 ovarian cancer cells (A2780-SP). CD109 knockdown in spheroid
cells reduced efficiency, cell migration and ALDH activity. CD109 overexpression in adherent A2780 cells increased

cancer stem cell properties, such as spheroid-forming efficiency, cell migration and the ALDH activity. Furthermore,
the analysis of patient-derived ovarian cancer cells shows that there is a correlation between CD109 expression and

patient survival. Together, our results provide novel insights regarding the critical role of CD109 in the regulation of
the cancer stem cell characteristics of ovarian cancer cells, thus suggesting that CD109 may be an important target

in the development of therapeutics for ovarian cancer patients.