CD44 expression is elevated in basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) tissue, and correlates with increased efficiency of distant metastasis in patients and experimental models.
CD44 cleavage, shedding, and elevated levels of soluble CD44 in the serum of patients is a marker of tumor burden and metastasis in several cancers including colon and gastric cancer.
CD44+/CD24‑/low is currently the most commonly used marker for breast cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are considered the main cause of drug resistance, relapse and metastasis.
CD44 is a glycosylated cell surface adhesion molecule expressed on a diverse range of cells and has several variant forms, some of which are involved in metastasis of cancer cells.
CD44 is a polymorphic family of immunologically related cell surface proteoglycans and glycoproteins implicated in cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion interactions, lymphocyte activation and homing, cell migration, and tumor metastasis.
CD44 expression, observed in only 49% of primary tumours, was associated with distant metastases at time of diagnosis and, among 31 curatively resected patients, with tumour recurrence (p = 0.0014) and increased mortality (p = 0.001) during follow-up averaging 17 months.
CD44 is a cell-surface glycoprotein postulated to play a role in a variety of biological processes, including lymphocyte homing and tumor-cell metastasis.
CD44 exon variant 6 epitope and hyaluronate synthase are expressed on HT29 human colorectal carcinoma cells in a SCID mouse model of metastasis formation.