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Updated: Nov 11, 2025
Isolation and Characterization of a Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Subpopulation Having Stem Cell Characteristics
Published on: May 11, 2016
Cancer Stem Cell Markers in Squamous Cell Carcinomas of the Salivary Glands
Mattis Bertlich1, Julia Kitz2, Marie Kruizenga3
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Background:
Cancer stem cells (CSC) are cells that exhibit stem cell properties and are pivotal in tumor biology. CSC markers have been described for many tumorous entities. However, to this date, there is no data on CSC markers in respect to squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) of the salivary glands.
Methods:
Histologic samples from patients with salivary gland SCCs were stained for CSC markers (ALDH-1/BMI-1/SOX-2/CD-44/vimentin) and divided into high and low expression subgroups. These were then correlated with tumor and patient characteristics as well as overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival, recurrence-free survival and local control rates (LCR) after 3 and 5 years.
Results:
Overall, 31 samples were included. CD-44 and ALDH-1 expression were associated with tumor origin (metastatic/primary disease, p = 0.048 and p = 0.011, respectively). Strong BMI-1 expression was associated with poorer OS (62.9 vs. 27.3%, p = 0.029), strong SOX-2 expression was associated with poorer LCR (62.5 vs. 21.9%, p = 0.007).
Conclusion:
CD-44 and ALDH-1 may be useful in differentiating between primary SCCs and metastatic disease. BMI-1 and SOX-2 are correlated with poorer prognosis.
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