The expression and clinical significance of tumor stem cell markers CD34 and CD40 in osteosarcoma tissue

Objective: To investigate the expression and clinical significance of tumor stem cell markers CD34 and CD40 in osteosarcoma tissue. Methods: A total of 106 osteosarcoma patients who underwent surgical treatment were selected as the study subjects. The expression of CD34 and CD40 in tumor and adjacent tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry. Clinical and pathological data were collected, and the impact of CD34 and CD40 expression on clinical and pathological parameters and prognosis of osteosarcoma patients was statistically analyzed. Results: (1) RT-qPCR and Western blot assay showed that the mRNA and protein expression levels of CD34 and CD40 in osteosarcoma tissues were significantly higher than those in adjacent tissues. (2) CD34 and CD40 were mainly located on the cell membrane of tumor cells. The positive rates of CD34 in adjacent and tumor tissues were 17.9% (19/106) and 60.4% (64/106), respectively, and the positive rates of CD40 in adjacent and tumor tissues were 23.6% (25/106) and 64.1% (68/106), respectively. The positive rates of CD34 (χ ² =40.095, P＜0.001) and CD40 (χ ² =35.420, P＜0.001) in osteosarcoma tissues were significantly higher than those in adjacent tissues. (3) CD34 and CD40 positive expression was closely related to Histological Grading, Tumor metastasis, and TNM staging. The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the survival time of patients in CD34-positive group (χ ² =29.33, P＜0.01) and CD40-positive group (χ ² =8.690, P=0.003) was significantly shorter than that in corresponding negative control group. Conclusion: The tumor stem cell markers CD34 and CD40 are highly expressed in osteosarcoma tissues and have a significant negative impact on clinical and pathological parameters and prognosis of osteosarcoma patients.