Tumors contain fractions of stem-like and proliferating cells that originated from cancer stem cells.

Histological examination was performed from resulting tumors in the cell mixing experiments (n = 3) to determine the fraction of stem-like cells as assessed by Sox2 expression and the presence of proliferating cells as confirmed by the M-phase marker phosphorylated histone 3 (PH3). Representative micrographs (A) and bar graph (B) demonstrate Sox2 expression (red) is associated with cancer stem cells and their descendants (green) but not with non-stem tumor cells and their descendants (blue). Representative micrographs (C) and bar graph (D) demonstrate PH3 expression (red) is associated with cancer stem cells and their descendants (green) but not with non-stem tumor cells and their descendants (blue). Scale bar represents 50 µm. Data displayed as mean values +/− S.E.M. ***, p<0.001 as assessed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), nuclei counterstained with Draq5 (purple).