Targeting BMI1⁺ Cancer Stem Cells Overcomes Chemoresistance and Inhibits Metastases in Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

ABSTRACT: Squamous cell carcinoma in the head and neck (HNSCC) is a common yet poorly understood cancer, with adverse clinical outcomes due to treatment resistance, recurrence, and metastasis. Putative cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been identified in HNSCC, and BMI1 expression has been linked to these phenotypes, but optimal treatment strategies to overcome chemotherapeutic resistance and eliminate metastases have not yet been identified. Here we show through lineage tracing and genetic ablation that BMI1⁺ CSCs mediate invasive growth and cervical lymph node metastasis in a mouse model of HNSCC. This model and primary human HNSCC samples contain highly tumorigenic, invasive, and cisplatin-resistant BMI1⁺ CSCs, which exhibit increased AP-1 activity that drives invasive growth an

SUBMITTER: Chen D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5419860 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature