ROLE OF STEM CELL IN DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF ORAL CANCER

*Dr. Navdeep Johar and Dr. Mayuri Jaitly

ABSTRACT

Oral squamous cell carcinoma is one of the world most common cancers with its highest occurrence in the Indian subcontinent and different aggressive and etiological behavioural patterns. The scenario is only getting worst by the day with the drop in 5 year survival to 50%, persistent treatment failures and frequent cases of recurrence. One of the major reasons for these failures is the presence of cancer stem cells (CS that are highly tumorigenic small group of cancer cells, with self-renewal properties and have the ability to differentiate into cells that constitute the bulk of tumours. Cancer-initiating cells show aberrant phenotypic and functional characteristic features. These are similar to normal stem cells from which they are evolved by accumulation of multiple cytogenetic and/or epigenetic alterations. Signal transduction pathways which are essential for normal stem cell function are abnormally expressed by cancer cells. A cancer cell phenotype plays an essential role in cancerization and metastasis.

Keywords: Oral squamous, cancers, cancerization and metastasis