Prominin-1 (CD133) and the Cell Biology of Neural Progenitors and Their Progeny

Our group discovered prominin-1 in search for markers to study the cell polarity of neural stem and progenitor cells in the developing brain. Over the past 15 years, prominin-1, also called CD133, has not only become a frequently used marker of neural stem cells and neural cancer stem cells, as is in fact the case of somatic (cancer) stem cells in general, but has also been used to understand the symmetric versus asymmetric division of the neural stem cells in the context of their apical-basal polarity. Moreover, studying prominin-1 on neural stem cells has revealed a novel fate of the midbody, that is, midbody release, and key differences in this release between normal stem cells and cancer-derived cells. Other subcellular aspects of neural stem cells, the understanding of which has been promoted by studying prominin-1, pertain to the organization of plasma membrane protrusions and the membrane microdomains they contain. Of particular relevance in this context is the primary cilium of neuroepithelial cells and its transformation into the outer segment of retinal photoreceptor cells, a process in which prominin-1 exerts a vital role.