Developing Treatments for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

SLU ID 22-027 | c-Fos over-expression head and neck cancer cells

Background

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is among the top six cancers by prevalence worldwide. While medical advancements have improved the quality of life for individuals with HNSCC, cures for the disease remain elusive. Regional and distant recurrence of HNSCC remains a significant problem.

Overview

Researchers at Saint Louis University have generated stable HNSCC cell lines that are useful for studying the signaling pathways that control the high incidence of local recurrence and distant metastases of the disease. The cell lines ectopically express the C-Fos gene, which makes the cells tumorigenic in nude mice.

Benefits

The potential benefits of this technology include:

• Increasing understanding of signaling pathways that control local recurrence and distant metastases of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC)

Applications

The potential applications of this technology include:

• Developing therapeutics for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC)

• Conducting academic research on HNSCC

Opportunity

Saint Louis University offers non-exclusive licenses for use of this technology.

References

• Muhammad, N., Bhattacharya, S., Steele, R., Phillips, N., & Ray, R. B. (2017). Involvement of c-Fos in the promotion of cancer stem-like cell properties in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Clinical Cancer Research, 23(12), 3120-3128. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-16-2811