Exosomes are 30-100 nm-sized membranous vesicles, secreted from a variety of cell types into their surrounding extracellular space. Various exosome components including lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids are transferred to recipient cells and affect their function and activity. Numerous studies have showed that tumor cell-derived exosomes play important roles in tumor growth and progression. H...

miR-101 is significantly downregulated in various human cancers, including oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). However, the role of miR-101 in OSCC has not been elucidated. In this study, miR-101 lowly expressed in OSCC tissues and cell lines compared with that in adjacent normal tissues and human normal oral keratinocyte cells. Bioinformatics analysis predicted that miR-101 could potentially ...

BACKGROUND Human beta-defensin-1 (hBD-1) has recently been considered as a candidate tumor suppressor in renal and prostate cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of hBD-1 in the progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and its potential as diagnostic/prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for OSCC. METHODS HBD-1 expression in tissues at different stages of o...

The constitutive activation of the Notch pathway has been demonstrated in various types of malignancies. However, it remains unclear how the Notch pathway is involved in the pathogenesis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). We investigated the expression of Notch pathway molecules in OSCC cell lines and biopsy specimens and examined the effect of Notch pathway inhibition. Reverse transcripti...

BACKGROUND The aetiological role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has been widely researched for more than three decades, with conflicting findings. In the absence of a large, adequately powered single case-control study, a meta-analysis of all available case-control studies is the most rigorous way of identifying any potential association between HPV ...

Nuclear factor erythroid derived 2 like 2 (Nrf2) is a critical transcriptional factor in mediating cellular defense mechanisms against oxidative stress or electrophiles. Arsenic has been reported to induce malignant transformation of human cells through Nrf2-dependent signaling pathway. However, arsenic is also a promising cancer therapeutic drug for solid tumors, including oral squamous cell c...

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Aberrations in miRNA regulation are known to play important roles in OSCC pathogenesis. miR-187 was shown to be up-regulated in head and neck malignancies in our previous screening. This study further investigated the oncogenic potential, clinical implications, and targets of miR-187 in OSCC. We observed that miR-1...

Leukoplakias (LPLs) are lesions in the oral mucosa that may develop into oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The objective of this study was to assess presence and distribution of dendritic Langerhans cells (LCs) and T cells in patients with LPLs with or without cell dysplasia and in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Biopsy specimens from patients with leukoplakias (LPLs) with or without dy...