Laryngeal cancer stem cells

Abstract

Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is one of the most commonly diagnosed malignancies in the head and neck region with
an increased incidence rate worldwide. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a group of cells with eternal life or infinite self-renewal ability,
which have high migrating, infiltrative, and metastatic abilities. Though CSCs only account for a small proportion in tumors, the
high resistance to traditional therapy exempts them from therapy killing and thus they can reconstruct tumors. Our current
knowledge, about CSCs in the LSCC, largely depends on head and neck studies with a lack of systematic data about the evidences of
CSCs in tumorigenesis of LSCC.
Certainly, the combination of therapies aimed at debulking the tumour (e.g. surgery, conventional chemotherapy, radiotherapy)
together with targeted therapies aimed at the elimination of the CSCs might have a positive impact on the long-term outcome of
patients with laryngeal cancer (LC) in the future and may cast a new light on the cancer treatment.