Studies of the correlation of cancer stem cells and cancer invasion using human squamous cancer cell line A431

• Main Authors: Chen,Yi, 陳怡
• Other Authors: Sheng-Yang Lee
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/19511098938791694286

碩士 === 臺北醫學大學 === 牙醫學系碩博士班 === 98 === Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) including oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the fastest growing malignant tumors. Despite major breakthrough in treatment modalities, OSCC remains one of the cancers with high recurrent incidence. Several studies have reported that OSCC contains a sub-group of cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSCs have the ability to form tumors as compared to non-tumorigenic cancer cells. The SCCs are transformed epithelial cells. Previous studies suggested that most OSCC of head and neck are caused by dysfunctional interaction between mesenchymal and epithelial elements (epithelial-mesenchymal transition, EMT) that may be associated with deregulation of cell growth, differentiation, therefore aiding angiogenesis, and metastasis in the process. In addition, the high proliferation and migration characteristics of stem cell may correlate with invasion and metastasis of OSCC. We hypothesize that increased expressions of CSC may contribute the invasiveness and metastasis of SCC (or OSCC). In this study, we cultured A431 cells, which are derived from human squamous cell carcinoma. Through the passages, we isolated three sub-populations of SCC with mixture, moderate and dominate CSC, according to the proportional expressions of three stemness / self-renewal genes, Oct-4, Nanog, and CD44 by flow cytometry. The ability of invasion of the sub-populations of SCC was investigated by the observation of cell migration in Matrigel coated trans-wells. In addition, the altered gene expressions in the most invasive subpopulation versus A431 mixture cells are identified. This study may help understand the relationship of EMT and tumor invasion and metastasis. It may be useful to identify potential markers for diagnosis and prognosis of high risk patients with OSCC.