Evaluation of stemness genes expression of OCT4, SOX2, Nanog, C-Myc and surface marker of CD133 on myeloma cells

Cancer stem cells that have the ability to proliferation and self-renewal were cause to drug resistance and metastasis in malignancies. In multiple myeloma, these cancer stem cells (MMCSCs) play a very important role in the recurrence of the disease. Detection of these cells can create new ways for treating these patients. In this study, stemness genes and phenotypic markers were investigated as the methods for identifying cancer stem cells in multiple myeloma.Expression of stemness genes of OCT4, SOX2, Nanog, C-Myc and target genes of STAT3 and TCF3 by PCR and Real Time PCR and also expression of surface markers of CD19, CD33, CD133, CD38 and CD56 by flow cytometry in RPMI8226 and U266 were studied.The results of the study showed that myeloma cells were express the stemness genes, and also CD133 surface marker was express in the some of myeloma cells. Identification of myeloma cancer stem cells can be crucial in the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of multiple myeloma patients. CD133+ myeloma cells that express stemness genes are Multiple Myeloma Cancer Stem Cells (MMCSC) that can be considered as therapeutic targets.