Effect of CD133/prominin-1 antisense oligodeoxynucleotide on in vitro growth characteristics of Huh-7 human hepatocarcinoma cells and U251 human glioma cells.

The stem cell marker CD133/prominin-1, is a pentaspan membrane glycoprotein, which has also been identified as a cancer stem cell (CSC) marker in several solid tumor types, including those of the prostate, liver, colon and brain. The function of CD133 in these tumors is still unknown. We hypothesize that the function of CD133 is correlated with the characteristics of the CD133+ CSCs and may affect the growth of the tumor cell population as a whole.