Prognostic value and predictive biomarkers of tumor-associated macrophages and cancer stem cells cooperatively in colorectal cancer

Abstract Objective Cancer stem cells (CSC) can recruit tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) into the tumor microenvironment and accelerate their polarization into tumor-accelerating macrophages. And TAMs maintain CSC stemness and construct niches that are poor for CSC patients survival.Thus we study that different phenotypes of TAMs and biomarkers of cancer stem cells (CSC) were measured as prognostic and predictive biomarkers in colorectal cancer (CRC). Materials and Methods Expression of CD86, CD163, CD44 and CD133 were detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Pearson chi-square test was used to analyze the correlation between CD86, CD163, CD44, CD133 and clinicopathological parameters. Survival difference and prognosis factors were established by Kaplan-Meier method with the log-rank test. Then the factors with p < 0.05 in univariate analysis were analyzed for overall survival by Cox proportional hazard regression model. Results The results showed that high expression of CD86 and low expression of CD163 as well as CD44 and CD133 were remarkably associated with longer survival. Then,the protein level of CD86 exhibited a negative correlation with the levels of CD133 and CD44, while CD163 showed a positive associated with CD133 and CD44. Furthermore, the high expression of CD163 and CD133 in combination were positively correlated with poor prognosis in patients with CRC. Conclusion These results suggested that different phenotypes of TAMs and biomarkers of CSCs can be used as potential biomarkers for the development and progression of CRC.