Cancer stem cells are a small population of cancer cells that retain characteristics similar to those of normal stem cells. CSCs may provide an effective therapeutic intervention that inhibits tumor growth and aggressiveness to those of normal stem cells.
For several years the concept of “stem cells” has
been of general scientific interest and has raised the important prospect of
being able to create new human tissues in the laboratory and use them to
replace those lost by injury or disease. Oral squamous cell carcinoma
(OSCC), a common malignant tumor of the head and neck, is currently the sixth
most common cancer worldwide. Cancer cells that can stimulate the growth of
oral cancers and enable tumors to resist therapy.
The treatment for early-stage OSCC is generally
single modality, either surgery or radiotherapy. so, the good evidence that
CSCs exist in most tumors but this review will focus mainly on oral squamous
cell carcinoma, which comprises the great majority of malignant oral cancers.