Overcoming Resistance to Irradiation of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma by Targeting the Cancer Stem Cell Subpopulation

International audienceTo date, for some cancer, radiotherapy leads to low benefits in terms of local control and long-term survival. One hypothesis for this failure is that these malignancies have acquired, or are inherently, radioresistant to low-LET radiation. Therefore, radiotherapy is undergoing an evolution by shifting to the use of heavier ion. Hadrontherapy has demonstrated favorable results for many of the malignancies. However, for some cancers, such as head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), local control remains low. In order to obtain more insights into this resistance mechanism and tumour escape, we have investigated the role of cancer stem cells (CSC) obtained from radioresistant HNSCC cell lines