Eman Khodary Allam, Eman Sobhy El-Shamy And Omneya Mohamed Wahba,

ABSTRACT
Background: Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) Is A Characteristic Aggressive Tumor Representing A Significant Public Health Threat All Over The World. It Has Been Found In Several Body Malignancies That Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) Are Small Subpopulation Of Cells Within The Tumor That Exhibit Self-renewing Ability And Are Responsible For Tumor Main�tenance, Growth And Metastasis.
Objectives: The Aim Of This Work Was To Investigate The Immunolocalization Of Cancer Stem Cells Markers; CD44 And ALDH1 In SCC And To Correlate The Expression Of These Markers In SCC Cases With Nodal Metastasis.

Materials and Methods: A Total Of 49 Specimens Of Oral SCC Were Divided Into 24 Cases With Nodal Metastasis And 25 Cases Without Nodal Metastasis For Evaluation Of Metastasis. Tissue Specimens Were Stained Immunohistochemically With Antibodies Against CD44 And ALDH1.

Results: CD44 And ALDH1 Expressions Increased In Poorly Differentiated SCCs. CD44 Expression Was Found To Be Statistically Highly Significant Relating To Histopathologic Grades Of Oral SCC. There Was A Non-significant Relation Between ALDH1 And Histopathologic Grades Of SCC. It Was Also Found That CD44 & ALDH1 Expressions Were Significantly Related To Lymph Node Status Of Primary SCC Cases.

Conclusions: The Results Of The Present Study Have Indicated That CD44 And ALDH1 Are Potential Markers Of CSCs In SCC. CSCs Positively Stained Cell Count Increased With Increasing The Grade Of SCC. Increased Expressions Of CD44 And ALDH1 In Primary SCCs Can Be Considered As A Useful Indicator Of The Metastatic Potential To Their Regional Lymph Nodes.