Expressions of Putative Cancer Stem Cell Markers, CD44 and CD133, are Correlated with Pathological Tumour Stage in Gastric Adenocarcinoma

To analyse partial and total gastrectomy specimen in items of immunohistochemical staining of the stem cell CD44 and CD133; and to determine their relationship to pathological stage, other clinicopathological prognostic parameters, and their predictive value. Derscriptive study. Department of Pathology, Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University, Medical School, Turkey, from 2013 to 2018. Eighty-three cases, diagnosed with adenocarcinoma from stomach partial and total gastrectomy slides and blocks, were included in the study. Adenocarcinoma cases, that had received neoadjuvant treatment before gastrectomy, cases diagnosed with lymphoma and other malignancies and cases of resection performed for reasons other than tumours, were excluded. Formalin-fixed and paraffin wax-embedded gastric adenocarcinoma blocks were sliced. CD44 and CD133 were stained onto the slides in a Leica Bond Max staining device in compliance with immunohistochemical staining datasheets. Membranous staining for CD44 and cytoplasmic, membranous or luminal staining for CD133 were evaluated. Mann-Whitney U-test and Kruskal- Wallis test were used for group comparisons. For pairwise comparisons, post-hoc Dunn's tests were used. The results were assessed on the significance level of p