Prevalence of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Stem Cells Correlates with Recurrence in Early-Stage Ovarian Cancer

Table 1

Patient and tumor characteristics and percentage of CD44+ EOC stem cells. Groups are classified based on their CD44 expression as tumors containing less than 20% CD44 positive (>20%) or more than 20% CD44 positive cells (<20%).

Characteristics	No. of patients	%	<20% CD44 Cells; N (%)	>20% CD44 Cells; N (%)	𝑃
Age					0.0013
<50	10	8.6	6 (60.0)	4 (40.9)
51–65	54	46.2	40 (74.1)	14 (25.9)
>65	53	45.3	51 (96.2)	2 (3.8)
Median 63.2
Range 32–79
FIGO stage					0.00025
I	14	12.0	6 (42.9)	8 (57.1)
II	11	9.4	9 (81.8)	2 (18.2)
III	70	59.8	61 (87.1)	9 (12.9)
IV	22	18.8	21 (95.5)	1 (4.5)
Tumor grade					0.0209
1	8	6.8	4 (50.0)	4 (50.0)
2	42	35.9	36 (85.7)	6 (14.3)
3	58	49.6	51 (87.9)	7 (12.1)
Not graded (clear cell or metastatic biopsy)	9	7.7
Histopathologic cell type					0.0760
Serous	100	85.5	86 (86.0)	14 (14.0)
Endometrioid	5	4.3	4 (80.0)	1 (20.0)
Clear cell	8	6.8	5 (62.5)	3 (37.5)
Mucinous	1	0.9	0 (0.0)	1 (100)
Carcinomas; (mixed or undifferentiated)	3	2.6	2 (66.7)	1 (33.3)
Residual postoperative tumor					0.014
≤1 cm	56	51.4	42 (75.0)	14 (25.0)
>1 cm; (Unknown: 8 )	53	48.6	49 (92.5)	4 (7.5)
CD44 immunostaining
Less than 20% CD44+ cells	97	82.9	NA	NA	NA
More than 20% CD44+ cells	20	17.1