Richard Vinitha, Pillai M Radhakrishna
Integrated Cancer Research Program, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram 695014, India.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2010 Dec;1806(2):146-62. doi: 10.1016/j.bbcan.2010.06.004. Epub 2010 Jul 3.
Tumors of the oral cavity provide an ideal model to study various stages of epithelial tumor progression. A group of cancer cells termed cancer stem cells (CSCs) eludes therapy, persists and initiates recurrence augmenting malignant spread of the disease. Hitherto, accurate identification and separation of such minimal residual cells have proven futile due to lack of identifiable traits to single out these cells from the heterogeneous tumor bulk. In this review we have compiled comprehensive evidence from comparative phenotypic and genotypic studies on normal oral mucosa as well as tumors of different grades to elucidate that differential expression patterns of putative stem cells markers may identify 'minimal residual disease' in oral squamous cell carcinoma. We propose the "cancer stem cell shift hypothesis" to explain the exact identity and switch-over, tumor-promoting mechanisms adapted by putative CSCs with correlation to tumor staging.
口腔肿瘤为研究上皮肿瘤进展的各个阶段提供了一个理想模型。一组被称为癌症干细胞（CSCs）的癌细胞能够逃避治疗、持续存在并引发复发，加剧疾病的恶性扩散。迄今为止，由于缺乏可识别的特征来从异质性肿瘤主体中挑选出这些细胞，准确识别和分离此类微小残留细胞已被证明是徒劳的。在本综述中，我们汇集了来自对正常口腔黏膜以及不同分级肿瘤的比较表型和基因型研究的全面证据，以阐明假定干细胞标志物的差异表达模式可能识别口腔鳞状细胞癌中的“微小残留病”。我们提出“癌症干细胞转变假说”来解释假定的癌症干细胞的确切身份和转换、与肿瘤分期相关的促进肿瘤机制。
