Fig. 3

CD133 expression on protein and mRNA levels. The CD133 receptor was evaluated within CAKI-2, ACHN, HKCSC, and ASE cell lines. a Percentage of CD133+ cells measured by flow cytometry. Caki-2 had a significantly higher number of CD133+ cells than ACHN. An extremely high number of CD133+ population was identified in ASE; in contrast, in HKCSC, the population was not detected. b The relative expression of cd133 measured by real-time PCR normalized to the PPIA housekeeping gene. Gene expression showed a different profile in comparison to flow cytometry; the relative expression of cd133 was higher in Caki-2 than ASE. The gene expression was not detectable in ACHN and HKCSC