Association of differential β‐catenin expression with Oct‐4 and Nanog in oral squamous cell carcinoma and their correlation with clinicopathological factors and prognosis

Abstract

Background: The re-expression of pluripotent markers (Oct-4 and Nanog) and the

Positive expression of NANOG, mutant P53, and CD44 is directly associated with clinicopathological features and poor prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma

“…Recent studies revealed that NANOG is highly detected in poorly differentiated carcinomas and late-stage tumors [8][9][10]. Moreover, a positive relationship between enhanced NANOG expression and lymph node metastasis of carcinoma was reported [21].…”

“…NANOG is an early transcription factor and pluripotent marker that maintains the self-renewal of embryonic and mesenchymal stem cells [8]. Recent studies revealed that NANOG is highly detected in poorly differentiated carcinomas and late-stage tumors [8][9][10].…”

“…Therefore, research has been underway to investigate more effective and definitive tumor prognostic markers for patients with OSCC [2,3]. As the cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis has become one of the predominant theories explaining the tumorinitiating capacity and heterogeneity of tumor cells, various stem cell markers have been studied to determine their correlation with clinicopathological tumor features and long-term prognosis [4][5][6][7][8].…”

“…The early transcription factors NANOG, OCT4, and SOX2, which play pivotal roles in the maintenance of pluripotency and self-renewal ability in both embryonic and adult stem cells, have also been reported as key regulation factors in the CSCs of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) [7,8]. High expression of NANOG and OCT4 has been positively correlated with histologically high-grade carcinomas and clinically poor prognosis [7][8][9][10].…”

“…High expression of NANOG and OCT4 has been positively correlated with histologically high-grade carcinomas and clinically poor prognosis [7][8][9][10]. CD44 was the first CSC marker described in a solid malignancy [5], and a high frequency of CD44 positive cells in HNSCC strongly correlates with recurrence and tumor aggressiveness [11].…”