Isolation and characterization of side population cells in human gastric cancer cell line BGC-823

Abstract

Isolate and characterize the side population (SP) cells with potency of stem cells from human gastric carcinoma cell line BGC-823. SP and non-SP cells were sorted from BGC-823 cells by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) using Hoechst33342 staining. The tumorigenic ability of the SP cells was assessed by in vivo transplantation into non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency mice. SP cells were isolated from BGC-823 cells in a proportion of 0.9% to 2.1% with respect to the whole cell population. The colony formation assay showed that the colony formation rate of the SP cells was significantly higher than that of the non-SP cells (72.56% vs. 49.00%, P < 0.01). The drug sensitivity test showed that the SP cells showed stronger drug resistance to 5-Fu than the non-SP cells. The in vivo transplantation of SP cells in mice showed that the tumor weight was (0.176 ± 0.034) g, significantly higher than that of non-SP cells (0.045 ± 0.046) g (P < 0.01). The results of this study indicate the existence of cancer stem-like SP cells in the human gastric cancer line BGC-823 cells. Further characterization of this SP cell population may provide new insights for diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer.