Title: A possible clinical benefit of the identification and characterization of colon cancer stem cells
Abstract: To assess the existence of colon cancer stem cells in different disease stages and identify a possible correlation between this cell population and cancer progression. To investigate the correlation between nanog, oct3/4, sox2, and cd26 expression levels and colon carcinoma, a series of colon cancers were successfully analyzed, and various protocols were performed on a group of patients. Peripheral blood was collected from six patients diagnosed with various stages of colon carcinoma. A potential gene expression pattern in colon carcinomas was observed. This study focused on determining the associated molecular mechanisms, which could be targeted to prevent and/or to minimize colon cancer's side effects. It was found that colon cancer stem cells existed in all clinical cases. A correlation between nanog, oct3/4, cd26 and sox2 gene was also observed.