Kumar Harish A, Desai Anupama, Mohiddin Gouse, Mishra Pallavi, Bhattacharyya Arnab, Nishat Roquaiya
Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Kalinga Institute of Dental Sciences, KIIT Deemed to be University, Bhubaneshwar, Odhisa, India.
Department of Periodontology and Oral Implantology, A.M.E'S Dental College, Raichur, Karnataka, India.
J Pharm Bioallied Sci. 2023 Jul;15(Suppl 2):S826-S830. doi: 10.4103/jpbs.jpbs_81_23. Epub 2023 Jul 11.
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a small sub-population of cells within a tumor mass proficient of tumor initiation and progression. Distinguishing features possessed by CSCs encompass self-renewal, regeneration and capacity to differentiate. These cells are attributed to the phenomenon of aggression, recurrence and metastasis in neoplasms. Due to their cancer initiating and contributing features, a proper understanding of these CSCs and its microenvironment would aid in better understanding of cancer and designing better targeted therapeutic strategies for improved clinical outcome, thus improving the prognosis. This article dispenses a narrative review of CSCs in the context of head and neck carcinoma under the sub headings of overview of cancer stem cells, methods of isolation of these cells, putative CSC markers of head and neck cancer, signaling pathways used by these cells and their therapeutic implications.
癌症干细胞（CSCs）是肿瘤组织中一小部分能够启动和促进肿瘤发展的细胞亚群。癌症干细胞具有的显著特征包括自我更新、再生和分化能力。这些细胞与肿瘤的侵袭、复发和转移现象有关。由于它们具有启动癌症和促进癌症发展的特性，正确理解这些癌症干细胞及其微环境将有助于更好地理解癌症，并设计出更有效的靶向治疗策略以改善临床结果，从而改善预后。本文在“癌症干细胞概述”“这些细胞的分离方法”“头颈部癌假定的癌症干细胞标志物”“这些细胞使用的信号通路及其治疗意义”等小标题下，对头颈部癌背景下的癌症干细胞进行了叙述性综述。
