Table 1.

Identification of human primary tumor CSC biomarkers using in vivo assays

Cancer Animal Type of injection Treatment of recipient mice Injection with Matrigel Percentage of CSC-enriched population in tumor Biomarkers Minimal number of biomarker + cells to obtain a tumor Reference 
ALL (B-ALL) NOD/SCID/IL2rγc−/− newborns Intravenous Sublethal irradiation No 82.50% CD34+/CD19+ 2–6 × 104 Kong et al., 2008  
AML NOD/SCID Intravenous Sublethal irradiation No 0.75% CD34+/CD38 2 × 105 Bonnet and Dick, 1997  
AML NOD/SCID, NOD/SCID/β2m−/− and NOD/SCID/IL2rγc−/− Intravenous and intrabone IVIG of CD122 pretreatment and sublethal irradiation No 0.076% (*) CD34+/CD38 (*) or CD34+/CD38+ (**) (in samples with lowest CD34+/CD38 fraction) 7.5 × 103 (*) or 106 (**) Taussig et al., 2008  
AML NOD/SCID Intrafemoral IVIG of CD122 pretreatment and sublethal irradiation No 0.06–0.00009% of bulk NA NA Eppert et al., 2011  
Bladder Rag2γcDKO Intradermal NA Yes 3–36.3% CD44 100 Chan et al., 2009  
Breast NOD/SCID Mammary fat pad VP-16, estrogen pellets No 11–35% ESA+/CD44high/CD24low-neg 200 Al Hajj et al., 2003 
Breast NOD/SCID Humanized mammary fat pad Estrogen pellets Yes 3–10% ALDH-1+ 500 Ginestier et al., 2007  
Brain NOD/SCID Intracranial NA No 6–29% CD133+ 100 Singh et al., 2004  
Colorectal NOD/SCID Renal capsule Sublethal irradiation Yes 1.8–24.5% CD133+ 100 O’Brien et al., 2007  
Colorectal NOD/SCID Subcutaneous NA No 2.60% ESAhigh/CD44+ 200 Dalerba et al., 2007  
Colorectal NOD/SCID Subcutaneous NA Yes 3.50% ALDH-1+ 25 serially passaged Huang et al., 2009  
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma NOD/SCID and Rag2γcDKO Subcutaneous NA Yes 10–12% CD44+ 5000 Prince et al., 2007  
Liver SCID Intrahepatic NA No 2.50% CD45/CD90+ 103 Yang et al., 2008  
Lung SCID and NUDE Subcutaneous, after in vitro expansion NA Yes 0.4–1.5% CD133+ 104 Eramo et al., 2008  
Lung NOD/SCID/IL2rγc−/− Subcutaneous NA Yes Median 15% lin-/CD166+ ≤500 Zhang et al., 2012  
Melanoma NOD/SCID Subcutaneous NA No 1.6-20.4% ABCB5+ 105 Schatton et al., 2008  
Melanoma Rag2γcDKO Intradermal NA Yes 2.5–41% CD271+ 100 Boiko et al., 2010  
Melanoma NOD/SCID/IL2rγc−/− Subcutaneous NA Yes NA NA 1 (in 28% of cases) Quintana et al., 2010  
Melanoma NUDE, (NOD/SCID, NOD/SCID/IL2rγc−/−Subcutaneous NA Yes 8–11% CD271+ 1000 Civenni et al., 2011  
Pancreatic NOD/SCID Subcutaneous and intrapancreatic NA Yes 0.2-0.8% ESA+/CD44+/CD24+ 100 Li et al., 2007  
Pancreatic NUDE Intrapancreatic NA No 3.6 cells per high-power field ESA+/CD133+ 500 Hermann et al., 2007  
Cancer Animal Type of injection Treatment of recipient mice Injection with Matrigel Percentage of CSC-enriched population in tumor Biomarkers Minimal number of biomarker + cells to obtain a tumor Reference 
ALL (B-ALL) NOD/SCID/IL2rγc−/− newborns Intravenous Sublethal irradiation No 82.50% CD34+/CD19+ 2–6 × 104 Kong et al., 2008  
AML NOD/SCID Intravenous Sublethal irradiation No 0.75% CD34+/CD38 2 × 105 Bonnet and Dick, 1997  
AML NOD/SCID, NOD/SCID/β2m−/− and NOD/SCID/IL2rγc−/− Intravenous and intrabone IVIG of CD122 pretreatment and sublethal irradiation No 0.076% (*) CD34+/CD38 (*) or CD34+/CD38+ (**) (in samples with lowest CD34+/CD38 fraction) 7.5 × 103 (*) or 106 (**) Taussig et al., 2008  
AML NOD/SCID Intrafemoral IVIG of CD122 pretreatment and sublethal irradiation No 0.06–0.00009% of bulk NA NA Eppert et al., 2011  
Bladder Rag2γcDKO Intradermal NA Yes 3–36.3% CD44 100 Chan et al., 2009  
Breast NOD/SCID Mammary fat pad VP-16, estrogen pellets No 11–35% ESA+/CD44high/CD24low-neg 200 Al Hajj et al., 2003 
Breast NOD/SCID Humanized mammary fat pad Estrogen pellets Yes 3–10% ALDH-1+ 500 Ginestier et al., 2007  
Brain NOD/SCID Intracranial NA No 6–29% CD133+ 100 Singh et al., 2004  
Colorectal NOD/SCID Renal capsule Sublethal irradiation Yes 1.8–24.5% CD133+ 100 O’Brien et al., 2007  
Colorectal NOD/SCID Subcutaneous NA No 2.60% ESAhigh/CD44+ 200 Dalerba et al., 2007  
Colorectal NOD/SCID Subcutaneous NA Yes 3.50% ALDH-1+ 25 serially passaged Huang et al., 2009  
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma NOD/SCID and Rag2γcDKO Subcutaneous NA Yes 10–12% CD44+ 5000 Prince et al., 2007  
Liver SCID Intrahepatic NA No 2.50% CD45/CD90+ 103 Yang et al., 2008  
Lung SCID and NUDE Subcutaneous, after in vitro expansion NA Yes 0.4–1.5% CD133+ 104 Eramo et al., 2008  
Lung NOD/SCID/IL2rγc−/− Subcutaneous NA Yes Median 15% lin-/CD166+ ≤500 Zhang et al., 2012  
Melanoma NOD/SCID Subcutaneous NA No 1.6-20.4% ABCB5+ 105 Schatton et al., 2008  
Melanoma Rag2γcDKO Intradermal NA Yes 2.5–41% CD271+ 100 Boiko et al., 2010  
Melanoma NOD/SCID/IL2rγc−/− Subcutaneous NA Yes NA NA 1 (in 28% of cases) Quintana et al., 2010  
Melanoma NUDE, (NOD/SCID, NOD/SCID/IL2rγc−/−Subcutaneous NA Yes 8–11% CD271+ 1000 Civenni et al., 2011  
Pancreatic NOD/SCID Subcutaneous and intrapancreatic NA Yes 0.2-0.8% ESA+/CD44+/CD24+ 100 Li et al., 2007  
Pancreatic NUDE Intrapancreatic NA No 3.6 cells per high-power field ESA+/CD133+ 500 Hermann et al., 2007  

Studies reporting the existence of enriched human CSC populations are listed. In the first five columns, the main parameters influencing the efficiency of tumor engraftment are listed. From left to right: the tumor entity, the type of immunocompromised mouse strain used, the route of transplantation of human tumor cells, preconditioning of the recipient mice, treatment of mice during the assay, and whether the tumor cells were mixed with Matrigel upon transplantation. In the next four columns, the main results of these studies are summarized. From left to right: the frequency of the identified CSC-enriched population observed in the given tumor entity, the biomarkers identified for this CSC-enriched population, and the minimal number of tumor cells expressing these biomarkers able to give rise to a human tumor as well as the reference of the corresponding study. *, results for the CD34+/CD38 population. **, results for the CD34+/CD38+ population.

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