Cancer Stem Cells in Moderately Differentiated Oral Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Ranui Baillie, Tinte Itinteang, Helen H. Yu, Helen D. Brasch, Paul F. Davis and Swee T. Tan
Journal of Clinical Pathology, 2016;69:742-744
http://jcp.bmj.com/content/69/8/742.full?sid=0b72c4ed-b6af-4a90-83bf-b8a3263fc86a
Cancers of the mouth are the sixth most common type of cancer. Among these cancers those affecting the tongue is the most common. The main therapies for treating these are surgery and radiotherapy. The chance of survival following conventional treatments is only 50%, which has remained unchanged for more than 40 years.
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been identified in many cancers and have been proposed as the origin of cancer, including cancers of the mouth. The team at the GMRI has identified two distinct subpopulations of CSCs. Consequently, future treatment may be designed to target these CSCs.
