Original Article
Copyright ©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 28, 2014; 20(48): 18240-18248
Published online Dec 28, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i48.18240
Circulating tumor and cancer stem cells in hepatitis C virus-associated liver disease
Abeer A Bahnassy, Abdel-Rahman N Zekri, Ahmed El-Bastawisy, Amal Fawzy, Marwa Shetta, Nehal Hussein, Dalia Omran, Abdallah A S Ahmed, Samir S El-Labbody
Abeer A Bahnassy, Molecular Pathology Unit, Pathology Department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Cairo 11796, Egypt
Abdel-Rahman N Zekri, Nehal Hussein, Virology and Immunology Unit, Cancer Biology Department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Cairo 11796, Egypt
Ahmed El-Bastawisy, Medical Oncology Department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Cairo 11796, Egypt
Amal Fawzy, Clinical Pathology Department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Cairo 11796, Egypt
Marwa Shetta, Clinical Pathology, Kasr Al-Aini, Cairo university, Cairo 11782, Egypt
Abdallah A S Ahmed, Samir S El-Labbody, Microbiology Department, El-Azhar University, Cairo 11964, Egypt
Dalia Omran, Tropical Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 11796, Egypt
Author contributions: Bahnassy AA and Zekri ARN designed the research; Bahnassy AA performed the flow cytometry analysis; Zekri ARN analyzed the data; El-Bastawisy A and Omran D collected the clinical data; Fawzy A and Hussein N performed the polymerase chain reactions; Shetta M performed the statistical analyses; Hussein N assisted in manuscript preparation; Ahmed AAS collected and arranged the samples; El-Labbody SS, Bahnassy AA, Zekri ARN and Fawzy A edited the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Abeer A Bahnassy, MD, PhD, Professor, Molecular Pathology Unit, Pathology Department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Fom El Khalig, Cairo 11796, Egypt. chaya2000@hotmail.com
Telephone: +20-2-23364147 Fax: +20-2-23364720
Received: April 21, 2014
Revised: May 24, 2014
Accepted: July 11, 2014
Published online: December 28, 2014
Processing time: 260 Days and 1.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Recent studies have shown that cancer stem and circulating tumor cells contribute to tumor development and progression and can predict patient outcome. Although there are various methods for enumeration of circulating tumor cells, this study demonstrates that flow cytometry is a sensitive, rapid and easy technique that can be used to follow chronic hepatitis C virus patients for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma. Additionally, telomerase, melanoma antigen encoding gene 3 and cancer stem cell markers (CD90, CD133, CK19) are prognostic indicators in hepatocellular carcinoma patients.