Oral epithelial stem cells -implications in normal development and cancer metastasis

Silvana Papagerakis (1) , Giuseppe Pannone (2) , Li Zheng (1) , Imad About (3) , Nawar Taqi (1) , Nghia P.T. Nguyen (1) , Margarite Matossian (1) , Blake Mcalpin (1) , Angela Santoro (2) , Jonathan Mchugh (1) , Mark E Prince (1) , Petros Papagerakis (1)

1 University of Michigan [Ann Arbor]
2 Unifg - Università degli Studi di Foggia = University of Foggia
3 ISM - Institut des Sciences du Mouvement Etienne Jules Marey

Oral mucosa is continuously exposed to environmental forces and has to be constantly renewed. Accordingly, the oral mucosa epithelium contains a large reservoir of epithelial stem cells necessary for tissue homeostasis. Despite considerable scientific advances in stem cell behavior in a number of tissues, fewer studies have been devoted to the stem cells in the oral epithelium. Most of oral mucosa stem cells studies are focused on identifying cancer stem cells (CSC) in oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs) among other head and neck cancers. OSCCs are the most prevalent epithelial tumors of the head and neck region, marked by their aggressiveness and invasiveness. Due to their highly tumorigenic properties, it has been suggested that CSC may be the critical population of cancer cells in the development of OSCC metastasis. This review presents a brief overview of epithelium stem cells with implications in oral health, and the clinical implications of the CSC concept in OSCC metastatic dissemination.

Mots clés: Oral squamous cell carcinoma; epithelial stem cells; invasion; metastasis; cancer stem cells; oral mucosa

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Silvana Papagerakis, Giuseppe Pannone, Li Zheng, Imad About, Nawar Taqi, et al.. Oral epithelial stem cells -implications in normal development and cancer metastasis. Experimental Cell Research, 2014, 325 (2), pp.111-129. ⟨10.1016/j.yexcr.2014.04.021⟩. ⟨hal-03547655⟩