CD44-positive cancer stem cells from oral squamous cell carcinoma exhibit reduced proliferation and stemness gene expression upon adipogenic induction

• Published in: Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) London, England), 2022-02, Vol.39 (2), p.23-23, Article 23
• Main Authors: Patil, Shankargouda, Al-Brakati, Ashraf, Abidi, Nazim H., Almasri, Mazen A., Almeslet, Asma saleh, Patil, Vikrant R., Raj, A. Thirumal, Bhandi, Shilpa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adipocytes; Adipogenesis; Biomarkers, Tumor - genetics; Cancer; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - genetics; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - pathology; Cell Differentiation; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Down-Regulation; Flow Cytometry; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Hematology; Humans; Hyaluronan Receptors; Internal Medicine; Ki-67 Antigen - analysis; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mouth Neoplasms - genetics; Mouth Neoplasms - pathology; Neoplastic Stem Cells - pathology; Oncology; Oral cancer; Original Paper; Pathology; Squamous cell carcinoma; Stem cells; Tumors
• ISSN: 1357-0560; 1559-131X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12032-021-01617-4

We proposed to assess adipogenic differentiation and its effect on the proliferation and stemness markers in CD44 + OSCC CSCs. D44 + CSCs were sorted by magnetic sorting from the single-cell suspension of the OSCC tumor. Adipogenic differentiation was induced by an adipogenic induction medium. Lipid droplet formation was confirmed by oil red O staining. The expression of the cell surface marker was analyzed by flow cytometry. Real-time qPCR was performed to examine the gene expression activity. CD44 + OSCC CSCs can differentiate into adipocytes and adipogenesis in these cells decrease their proliferation and stemness gene expression. Adipogenic induction can make the cancer stem cells from OSCC tumors lose their stemness potential. Oral cancer, especially OSCC, is a huge burden worldwide. Similar to other stem cells, cancer stem cells can differentiate into other lineage cells. Our study shows that the proliferation and stemness gene expression in the CSCs from OSCC tumors can be thwarted by inducing them to differentiate into adipocytes, which could be advantageous to find out new clinical approaches in the treatment of cancers, like OSCC. Graphical abstract