Cancer stem cell phenotype relates to radio-chemotherapy outcome in locally advanced squamous cell head-neck cancer.

Background: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) tend to repopulate malignant tumours during radiotherapy and, therefore, prolongation of the overall treatment time may result in radiotherapy failure. Thus, an estimate of the number of CSCs in tumour biopsies may prove most useful in predicting resistance to radiotherapy and a guide for development therapies aimed to eradicate a cancer cell population with effects on radiotherapy-related cancer regrowth.

Methods: The CSC population was investigated semi-quantitatively in 74 locally advanced squamous cell head-neck cancers (HNSCC) from an equal number of patients, treated with accelerated platinum-based radiotherapy.