Quercetin Induces Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis in YD10B and YD38 Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cells.

Objective: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) exhibits the highest lethality among head and neck cancers. Treatment for OSCC is limited due to diverse side effects. Quercetin is a natural flavonoid compound found in many kinds of plants and foods.

A novel TGF-β receptor II mutation (I227T/N236D) promotes aggressive phenotype of oral squamous cell carcinoma via enhanced EGFR signaling.

Background: Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling is a double-edged sword in cancer development and progression. TGF-β signaling plays a tumor suppressive role during the early stages of tumor development but promotes tumor progression in later stages. We have previously identified various mutations of TGF-β receptor II (TβRII) in human oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) samples.

Areca nut exposure increases secretion of tumor-promoting cytokines in gingival fibroblasts that trigger DNA damage in oral keratinocytes.

Molecular crosstalk between cancer cells and fibroblasts has been an emerging hot issue in understanding carcinogenesis. As oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is an inflammatory fibrotic disease that can potentially transform into squamous cell carcinoma, OSF has been considered to be an appropriate model for studying the role of fibroblasts during early stage carcinogenesis. In this sense, this study aims at investigating whether areca nut (AN)-exposed fibroblasts cause DNA damage of epithelial cells.

A distinct role for interleukin-6 as a major mediator of cellular adjustment to an altered culture condition.

Tissue microenvironment adjusts biological properties of different cells by modulating signaling pathways and cell to cell interactions. This study showed that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)/ mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) can be modulated by altering culture conditions. HPV E6/E7-transfected immortalized oral keratinocytes (IHOK) cultured in different media displayed reversible EMT/MET accompanied by changes in cell phenotype, proliferation, gene expression at transcriptional, and translational level, and migratory and invasive activities.

RUNX3 confers sensitivity to pheophorbide a-photodynamic therapy in human oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) with photosensitizer is one of the promising modalities for cancer treatment. For clinical use of PDT, screening process should be preceded to enhance sensitivity to PDT. Thus, we investigated a molecular biomarker to determine the sensitivity to pheophorbide a (Pa)-PDT in immortalized human oral keratinocytes (IHOK) and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cell lines.

A novel gain-of-function mutation of TGF-β receptor II promotes cancer progression via delayed receptor internalization in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

We present a novel gain-of-function mutation of TGF-β receptor II (TβRII) found in human oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Expression of E221V/N238I mutant TβRII enhanced TGF-β signaling. Mutation of TβRII conferred cells higher migratory and invasive capabilities and MMP-2 activity.