UM-Chor1: establishment and characterization of the first validated clival chordoma cell line.

OBJECTIVE Chordomas are rare malignant tumors thought to arise from remnants of the notochord. They can be located anywhere along the axial skeleton but are most commonly found in the clival and sacrococcygeal regions, where the notochord regresses during fetal development. Chordomas are resistant to many current therapies, leaving surgery as the primary method of treatment.

Integration of high-risk human papillomavirus into cellular cancer-related genes in head and neck cancer cell lines.

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal cancer is generally associated with excellent response to therapy, but some HPV-positive tumors progress despite aggressive therapy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate viral oncogene expression and viral integration sites in HPV16- and HPV18-positive squamous cell carcinoma lines.

Methods: E6/E7 alternate transcripts were assessed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

STAT3 Inhibition as a Therapeutic Strategy for Chordoma.

 Signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins regulate key cellular fate decisions including proliferation and apoptosis. STAT3 overexpression induces tumor growth in multiple neoplasms. STAT3 is constitutively activated in chordoma, a tumor with a high recurrence rate despite maximal surgical and radiation treatment.

Novel method of cell line establishment utilizing fluorescence-activated cell sorting resulting in 6 new head and neck squamous cell carcinoma lines.

Background: The purpose of this study was to present the establishment of new cell lines, which is important to cancer research.

Methods: Six new head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell lines were established using a novel fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) method in order to overcome the barrier of fibroblast overgrowth and the susceptibility of primary tumors to fail in vitro.

Results: Antibodies chosen for specific targeting of epithelial cells and fibroblasts successfully separated cells for line establishment in 6 of 12 attempts, providing an alternative method of establishing head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell lines.

UM-SCC-103: a unique tongue cancer cell line that recapitulates the tumorigenic stem cell population of the primary tumor.

Objective: A new head and neck cancer cell line was developed from a highly aggressive HNSCC of the oral cavity diagnosed in a 26-year-old pregnant woman.

Methods: Cells from the primary tumor were passaged in culture and genotyped as a unique cell line. The resultant cell line was assessed for its ability to replicate the primary tumor.

Generation of a novel dendritic-cell vaccine using melanoma and squamous cancer stem cells.

We identified cancer stem cell (CSC)-enriched populations from murine melanoma D5 syngeneic to C57BL/6 mice and the squamous cancer SCC7 syngeneic to C3H mice using ALDEFLUOR/ALDH as a marker, and tested their immunogenicity using the cell lysate as a source of antigens to pulse dendritic cells (DCs). DCs pulsed with ALDH(high) CSC lysates induced significantly higher protective antitumor immunity than DCs pulsed with the lysates of unsorted whole tumor cell lysates in both models and in a lung metastasis setting and a s.c.

Cancer stem cells: mediators of tumorigenesis and metastasis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a subpopulation of cells responsible for tumor growth. Their role in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) tumorigenesis and metastasis remains uncertain.

Methods: Wound healing and an orthotopic animal model were used to study cells expressing the CSC phenotype (CD44(high) and aldehyde dehydrogenase [ALDH](+)) and assess mobility, tumorigenesis, and metastasis.

Head and neck cancer stem cells: the effect of HPV--an in vitro and mouse study.

Objectives: To determine if the behavior of cancer stem cells (CSCs) is affected by human papillomavirus (HPV) status.

Study Design: An in vitro and in vivo analysis of HPV and CSCs.

Setting: University laboratory.

In vitro evaluation of sialyl Lewis X relationship with head and neck cancer stem cells.

Objective: To evaluate in vitro the potential links between sialyl Lewis X (sLeX) and cancer stem cells (CSC) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). HNSCC is an aggressive malignancy with high mortality mainly due to metastasis. CSC have emerged as important players in HNSCC metastasis.

UM-SCC-104: a new human papillomavirus-16-positive cancer stem cell-containing head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell line.

Background: Few human papillomavirus (HPV)(+) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cell lines exist. We established University of Michigan-squamous cell carcinoma-104 (UM-SCC-104), a new HPV(+) HNSCC cell line from a recurrent oral cavity tumor, and characterized it for the presence of cancer stem cells (CSCs).

Methods: Tumor cells were tested for biomarker expression by immunohistology, and the presence of HPV was assessed by several methods.

Head and neck cancer stem cells: the side population.

Objectives/hypothesis: The cancer stem cell (CSC) theory concludes that a subpopulation of cancer cells, the cancer stem cells, can self-renew and are responsible for tumor growth. Previous studies have identified cells able to efflux Hoechst 33342 dye as the side population (SP). SP cells and CSCs share many characteristics, suggesting the SP isolated from malignant tumors contains CSCs.

Metastatic potential of cancer stem cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Objective: to design in vitro and in vivo models of metastasis to study the behavior of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Design: cells were sorted for CD44 expression using flow cytometry. Sorted cells were used in an in vitro invasion assay.

Single-marker identification of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cancer stem cells with aldehyde dehydrogenase.

Background: In accord with the cancer stem cell (CSC) theory, only a small subset of cancer cells are capable of forming tumors. We previously reported that CD44 isolates tumorigenic cells from head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC). Recent studies indicate that aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity may represent a more specific marker of CSCs.