Steroids and growth factors in oral squamous cell carcinoma: useful source of dental-derived stem cells to develop a steroidogenic model in new clinical strategies

OBJECTIVE

Head and neck region is involved in a high percentage of malignant lesions, and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is undoubtedly the most frequently found, accounting for over 90% of malignant tumors. Hormone receptor overexpression, like Estrogen Receptor (ER), Progesterone Receptor (PR) and Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR), and signaling have been related to the pathogenesis of OSCC. For metastasis of OSCC, Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) undergo epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) under the influence of growth factors, cytokines, and regulation of cadherins from the tumor's microenvironment. In this context, the stem cells may become a potential therapeutic target for OSCC through modulation of cytokines and RAS pathway, which is involved in intracell signal transduction. The objective of this study was to suggest an experimental steroidogenic model for OSCC in translational research.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Dental-derived Stem Cells (D-dSCs) have been obtained from apical papilla tissue that surrounds the developing tooth of healthy donors and cultured in vitro. The cells have been exposed to different concentrations of Estradiol (E2 - 10 nM and 40 nM) in order to verify their response. The number of cells and cell viability has been evaluated up to 96 hours of treatment.

RESULTS

The results showed that cell growth was increased under estradiol treatments compared with cells maintained without estradiol. Moreover, no significant difference in cell death levels was detected among treatments.

CONCLUSIONS

This work underlines as D-dSCs could represent a useful steroidogenic model for the development of the target and gene therapies in OSCC.

The alteration of stress-related physiological parameters after probiotics administration in oral surgeons with different degrees of surgical experience

PURPOSE

Stress is a multifactorial and complex pathway, gaining growing attention from the healthcare community. Surgeons are subjected to higher levels of stress, due to surgical procedures that are demanding and repetitive; unfortunately, high-stress levels may also cause side-effects, as surgical mistakes. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of specific probiotics strains formula on stress levels in oral and maxillofacial surgeons, to improve their quality of life.

METHODS

We have investigated the hormonal (salivary Cortisol; sC), immune (salivary Immunoglobulin A; sIgA) and cardiovascular (Heart rate, HR, and systolic blood pressure, SBP) responses induced by stress conditions in 40 oral surgeons, randomly selected and allocated, according to their experience level, in three categories: senior, expert, and junior.

RESULTS

The results described how the number of heartbeats/ minute and SBP are slightly raised in all surgeons at different timepoints. Such data allow us to assess that work-related stress can induce an increase in cardiovascular parameters, even if they are not significantly modified by the use of probiotics. On the other hand, our data indicate that 10 weeks of probiotic integration may induce the improvement of other stress-related physiological parameters in oral surgeons with different degrees of surgical experience, such as the salivary cortisol levels, even under stress conditions. Moreover, in the test group (probiotics administration), the immunoglobulin levels were higher than the control (placebo administration) group: this happens as a consequence of the regular use of probiotics, which may induce an increased number of IgA producing cells.

DISCUSSION

Our data indicated that 10 weeks of probiotics-enriched diet modify some stress-related physiological parameters in oral surgeons with different degrees of surgical experience, but it does not impact on the overall cardiovascular risk.