Abstract

Background
CD24 has been found to be over-expressed in several different types of solid tumour and, in common, this has been linked to poor prognosis, however; the cellular mechanisms of the CD24 - mediated effects are still unclear. We studied the possible functions of CD24 in colorectal cancer (CRC) cell lines to scrutinise its cellular effects. Moreover, CD24 is a putative stem cell marker in different epithelia, but whether its overexpression or under expression is peculiar to cancer stem cells is to be elucidated.

Method
CD24 was functionally evaluated by a dual approach: 1) forced expression in HCT116 using the CD24 pcDNA3.1 plasmid and 2) knockdown, by RNA interference, in HT29 CRC cell lines. The differential expression of CD24 was assessed by Rt-PCR.