Detection of putative stem cell markers, <scp>CD</scp>44/<scp>CD</scp>133, in primary and lymph node metastases in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. A preliminary immunohistochemical and <i>in vitro</i> study

Abstract

A putative cancer stem-like cell population is detectable in HNSCCs, and our findings show their in vitro clonogenic capacity by demonstrating that CD44+-cultured cells are the main population proliferating obtained by N+ HNSCC metastases, emphasizing their possible role in tumour progression.