Stem Cell Therapy
This is one of the most common causes of skin cancer. It usually develops in the squamous cells of the outer and middle layer of the skin. It mostly occurs in parts of the skin that has been injured by Ultra-violet rays. Avoiding a prolonged exposure to Ultra-violet rays helps to decrease the risk of having squamous cell carcinoma. Areas commonly exposed to the sun include the neck, arms, legs head, hands and so on. This disease is a progressive type of cancer, that grows slowly over time. It also has the ability to spread to other tissues of the body. Common areas affected are the bones, tissues, and surrounding lymph nodes. There are some factors that increase the chances of developing this disease. Some of the factors include old age, gender, type of skin, exposure to sunlight and so on. This cancer becomes difficult to treat when it starts metastasizing. The prognosis of the disease is always better when diagnosed early. This is why it’s always important to visit your physician, should you notice some strange developments in your skin and your body in general. The treatment procedures for this disease include surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, especially when it has metastasized to other parts of the body. Those in the stem cell business are looking for ways to target cancer stem cells. This, when accomplished, would lead to a more efficient way of treating the disease.
What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Squamous Cell Carcinoma?
This disease usually starts as a bump on the skin. This bump could be red in color, and patchy when touched. They also bleed when scraped or touched. Some of the symptoms of the disease are;
- A red ulcer or plaque that grows slowly.
- The lesion caused by this cancer is sometimes asymptomatic
- Regular bleeding from the tumor, especially when scraped.
- The appearance of this cancer varies clinically in people.
- The ulcer usually has rough edges, with hard lesions.
- The tumor might appear in the form of a hard plaque, but with vessels.
- The tumor sometimes can be found just below the skin, which would eventually ulcerate and invade the surrounding tissues.
- This tumor mostly develops in the areas that are exposed to the sun, such s the neck, hands, arms, head, and so on.
- It often forms an ulcer on the lip that doesn’t heal and then bleeds regularly.
- The cancer tumor grows slowly.
When Should You Go See A Physician?
You should go see your physician when you observe a sore or an ulcer that does not heal in over 8 weeks. Also, a patch that doesn’t go away in about 2 months might just be squamous cell carcinoma. Visit your doctor to eliminate this concern. The earlier the disease is diagnosed, the better the chances of survival and prognosis.
What Are The Causes Of Squamous Cell Carcinoma?
Squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common skin cancer in the world, after the basal cell carcinoma. This disease affects parts of the skin that is exposed to the sun for a long time. The two most important factors of this disease are exposed to sunlight and immunosuppression. This two factor contributes the most to the risk of having the disease. The risk of metastasis begins to increase ten years after the diagnosis of the disease. A large fraction of the squamous cell carcinoma affects the skin, such as the neck, hands, arm, and face. The squamous cell carcinoma has a huge risk of metastasis as compared to basal cell carcinoma
- Immunosuppression: This occurs mostly in people that had just received organ transplants. This is because, this kind of people are given drugs that would suppress their immune system, to prevent cases of rejection. This increases their risk of having squamous cell carcinoma. Those most affected by this disease are patients that had undergone heart and lung transplants, because of the high dosage of immunosuppressive medications they usually take. The chances of having this cancer are more in patients taking calcineurin inhibitor drugs like cyclosporine and tacrolimus.
What Are The Risk Factors Of Having Squamous Cell Carcinoma?
There are a lot of factors that could increase the risk of having squamous cell cancer. Some of them are;
- Skin: This disease can affect anyone, notwithstanding the kind of skin they have. However, people with fewer pigments on their skin usually have less protection against the effect of the ultraviolet In simple terms, the more the melanin or pigment one has, the lesser the chances of having the disease.
- Sun exposure: Heavy exposure of the skin to sun radiations increases the risk of having squamous cell carcinoma. Prolonged exposure of the skin to the sun, especially when the skin is not covered increases the chance of having this disease.
- Genetics: There are some people with skin genetic disorders such as Xeroderma pigmentosum. This disease causes an oversensitivity to sunlight. People with this kind of genetic skin disorder have a very chance of developing squamous cell carcinoma.
- Immunosuppression: People with a weakened immune system do have higher chances of having this disease. This is common to patients with organ transplants. They are usually given medications that would suppress their immune system, to prevent cases of organ rejection. Heart transplant patients are the most affected by this disease, because of the heavy immunosuppressive drugs they have to use.
- Past medical history: A previous occurrence of the squamous cell carcinoma increases the chances of having the disease again.
How Is This Disease Currently Treated?
The disease can be treated with 3 main methods. This includes radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery. The type of treatment method that would be used depends on the size, location and how aggressive the cancer is. Other treatment methods include cryotherapy and curettage, laser therapy; this is the use of powerful light beam in destroying the growth of a tumor, and the surrounding tissues.
Stem cell therapy and squamous cell carcinoma
It has been discovered that they’re some stem cells that promote the rapid proliferation of the tumor in squamous cell carcinoma. Targeting these stem cells might be a more effective and faster way of treating squamous cell carcinoma.
References
Chandrakesan, P. (2017). Cancer cell of origin controls epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in skin squamous cell carcinoma. Stem Cell Investigation, 4, pp.34-34.
Curry, J. and Wojcik, E. (2003). Malignant pericardial effusion with metastatic squamous-cell carcinoma: Discordance between ThinPrep® and cell-block cytopreparation. Diagnostic Cytopathology, 29(5), pp.270-270.
Geurts, T. (2005). Pulmonary Squamous Cell Carcinoma following Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Metastasis or Second Primary?. Clinical Cancer Research, 11(18), pp.6608-6614.
Gilger, B. (2011). Challenges in the treatment of equine periocular squamous cell carcinoma. Equine Veterinary Education, 23(10), pp.500-501.
