CLINICAL SIGNIFICATION OF THE CONTENT OF STEM CELLS IN BRAIN TUMORS

Belskaya L.N., Vaslovych V.V., Gnedkova I.A., Gnedkova M.A., Lisyanyi A.N., Lisyanyi N.I., Shmeleva A.A.

Objective: to analyze the dependence of histostructure and the degree of malignancy of brain tumors on the expression level of CD133 antigens in brain tumors, as well as the ratios of different hematopoietic germ cells (granulocytes, lymphocytes — Lph, platelets —Plt) in peripheral blood (PB). Object and methods: the parameters of PB of 46 patients with glial tumors were studied. The expression of CD133 on tumor cells was determined in the initial suspension of the operative material using McAb to CD133 (Millipore) using flow cytometry. The determination of PB indices was carried out in the preoperative period using the automatic hematology analy­zer MINDRAY BC 3000 plus. Absolute amounts of Plt, neutrophils (Nph) and Lph, as well as the ratio of absolute amounts of Plt/Lph and Plt/Nph and relative content of Nph/Lph were determined. Results: it was established that in glioblastomas (degree IV of anaplasia) the expression level of CD133 is 2–3 times higher than with gliomas degree I–III of anaplasia. In the group of patients with high CD133 expression, there was a significant decrease in the relative content of Lph in PB compared with the group of patients with low CD133⁺ cells. A ne­gative correlation (r = –0.40) was established between the number of CD133⁺ cells in the tumor and the relative content of Lph in the PB; the positive correlation (r = 0.45) was established by the relative content of Nph. The ratio Nph/Lph was significantly higher with a high content of CD133⁺ cells compared to low values of CD133⁺ (4.4 ± 0.9 and 2.4 ± 0.7, respectively). Conclusions: the content of CD133⁺ stem cells in brain gliomas increases with increasing degree of anaplasia. The number of CD133⁺ cells in the tumor tissue correlates with the re­lative content of Lph (negative correlation) and Nph (po­sitive correlation) in the PB of patients with brain tumors.