Evaluating the expression of putative stem cell markers ALDH1 and CD133 in melanoma cell lines A375 and D10

The cancer stem cells (CSCs) are involved in invasion and metastasis of melanoma, the most lethal and aggressive form of skin cancer. In the present study, the expression of putative stem cell markers CD133 and ALDH1 were evaluated in melanoma cell lines and then the cells sorted based on the expression of these markers. In the present study expression of CD133 and ALDH1 was evaluated in A375 and D10 cell lines using flow cytometry. Then, selected cell line was sorted up on the expression of selected stem cell marker into positive and negative populations. Our results indicated that ALDH1 marker expressed in 55.71 ± 7.88% and 49.88 ± 6.43% in A375 and D10 cell lines, respectively, while the CD133 only expressed in D10 cells in 26.76 ± 2.83%. Cell sorting was performed according to ALDH1 expression in both cell lines and CD133 expression only in D10 cells. The purity of isolated cells was high according to CD133 expression (90% <), whereas the purity of ALDH1+ and ALDH1- populations was very low. Findings of this study showed that cell sorting based on stem cell marker CD133 was suitable in D10 cells, therefore this marker could be a reliable marker for isolating of CSCs in this cell line.