Cancer stem cell and its niche in malignant progression of oral potentially malignant disorders

Oral cancer, which is the sixth most common cancer, accounts for 300,000 cases worldwide [1]. A large proportion of oral cancer is preceded by the development of oral leukoplakia [2,3], an oral potentially malignant disorder (OPMD). The histologic progression of OPMD from hyperplasia, different grades of dysplasia to carcinoma-in-situ and invasive carcinoma and the associated genomic changes are well studied [4]. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been increasingly implicated in oral carcinogenesis and field cancerization [5], and are known to be regulated by stroma and endothelial cells constituting the CSC-niche [6,7].

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