Objective To study the biological characteristics of p75 neurotrophin receptor positive (p75NTR+) tongue squa-mous cell carcinoma cells which were separated by flow cytometry cell sorting. Methods To determine the biological cha-racteristics of p75NTR+ cells which were separated from Tca-8113 and Cal-27 tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells by flow cytometry cell sorting, including study the capacity of cloning, 3-(4,5)-demethylthiazo(z-y1)-3,5-diphenytetrazoliumromide (MTT) assay, wound healing assay. p75NTR+ cells with non-sorted cells were as control group. Results In Tca-8ll3 and Cal-27 tongue squamous cell carcinoma cell lines, the percentage of p75NTR+ cells were 3.1％ and 1.9％. Compared with p75NTR+ cells with non-sorted cells, p75NTR+ cells possess higher capacity of cloning (Tca-8113, P=0.024; Cal-27, P=0.009). The per-centage of p75NTR+cells of the progeny cells generated from monoclonal p75NTR+ cells decreased to 14.5％ (Tca-8113) and 5.8％ (Cal-27) after cultured two weeks. p75NTR+ cells possessed higher proliferation ability and higher metastasis ability than non-sorted cells. Conclusion p75NTR+ cells isolated from tongue squamous cell carcinoma have the characteristics of cancer stem cells.
