Facial Neoplasms ; classification ; pathology ; Humans ; Jaw Neoplasms ; classification ; pathology ; Mouth Neoplasms ; classification ; pathology

Cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) constitute 3.5-4% of all malignancies. Since the majority of cases are squamous cell carcinomas which are related with epidemiologic factors, a different pattern of UADT cancer might be present between the Western and Asian populations. We performed a pathology based statistical study on UADT cancers in Korean patients. Cases from Korea Cancer Center Hospital, from January 1, 1988 through December 31, 1998, were subjected to the study. Among 2,842 cases, epithelial malignancies accounted for 87.8%, with squamous cell carcinoma as the major type (76.5%). The larynx was the most commonly affected site (26%), followed by the oral cavity (25.1%), oropharynx (13%), nasopharynx (9%), hypopharynx (8.4%), paranasal sinuses (6.4%), nasal cavity (6%) and salivary glands (6.1%). The percentage of squamous cell carcinoma was highest (98.7%) at the hypopharynx, and lowest at the nasal cavity (42.3%), which showed the most diverse tumor entities. Korean patients with UADT cancers presented with a higher incidence of non-epidermoid malignancy including sarcoma (1.5%) and malignant melanoma (1.4%), and a higher frequency of involvement of the sinonasal tract, compared with the Western patients.
Head and Neck Neoplasms/classification/*pathology ; Humans ; Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms/classification/pathology ; Korea ; Laryngeal Neoplasms/classification/pathology ; Mouth Neoplasms/classification/pathology ; Nasal Cavity ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms/classification/pathology ; Oropharyngeal Neoplasms/classification/pathology ; Paranasal Sinus Neoplasms/classification/pathology ; Salivary Gland Neoplasms/classification/pathology

Previous studies have demonstrated that spheroid type cells grown under suspension culture conditions have cancer stem cell (CSC) traits in a number of cancers, but this phenomenon has not yet been reported in the VX2 rabbit oral cancer model. Hence, this study aimed to study the spheroid cells from VX2 rabbit buccal squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) and assess their CSC characteristics. Five adult male New Zealand white outbred rabbits were used to generate VX2 rabbit buccal SCC. Sphere-forming cell culture was performed for the VX2 rabbit buccal SCC specimens. The self-renewal capability; cluster of designation (CD) 44, CD133, acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1), B cell-specific Moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1 (Bmi-1), Nestin, octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (Oct4) and reduced expression protein-1 (Rex-1) expression with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR); chemoresistance to cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil; and in vivo tumorigenicity of spheroid cell transplantation in nude mice were evaluated to determine the CSC characteristics of the resulting spheroid cells. We successfully obtained spheroid cells from the VX2 rabbit OSCC tissues. The spheroid cells exhibited CSC traits, including the expression of CSC and stem cell markers (CD44, Bmi-1, Nestin, Oct4 and Rex-1), capacity to generate new spheroid colonies within 1 week of reseeding from single-dissociated spheroid cells, chemoresistance capacity and generation of tumour xenografts (with histological features resembling those of the original VX2 rabbit buccal SCC) from the transplantation of 10(3) undifferentiated spheroid cells into nude mice. In summary, we demonstrated that spheroid cells with CSC cell traits can be derived from VX2 rabbit buccal SCCs, indicating that this animal cancer model is applicable for studying CSCs in human oral cancers.
AC133 Antigen ; Animals ; Antigens, CD ; analysis ; Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; pathology ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cisplatin ; pharmacology ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; analysis ; Disease Models, Animal ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Fluorouracil ; pharmacology ; Glycoproteins ; analysis ; Heterografts ; transplantation ; Hyaluronan Receptors ; analysis ; Isoenzymes ; analysis ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Nude ; Mouth Neoplasms ; pathology ; Neoplasm Transplantation ; Neoplastic Stem Cells ; classification ; Nestin ; analysis ; Octamer Transcription Factor-3 ; analysis ; Peptides ; analysis ; Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 ; analysis ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins ; analysis ; Rabbits ; Retinal Dehydrogenase ; analysis ; Spheroids, Cellular ; classification