Figure 1. CD24 and CD44 are expressed in the stem cell zone of the human intestinal epithelium.
Epithelial expression of CD44 is restricted to the basolateral membranes of crypt cells (A, C, & E), with no expression in villus epithelium (B & D). CD24 is also restricted to the crypt, but is expressed on the apical membrane of epithelial cells (F & H, arrow). A subset of crypt-based epithelial cells expresses high levels of cytoplasmic CD24 (G & I, arrows). CD326 (EpCAM) is expressed throughout both the crypt and villus, but remains restricted to epithelial cells (J–L). Scale bars represent 50μm.