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Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma stands as one of the major cancer deaths over the globe. Surgery,
chemotherapy and radiotherapy being the mainstay of management, no satisfactory improvements in posttreatment
survival rate of patients have been achieved over past few decades. In recent times, a noble concept
of cancer stem cells, known as the ‘cancer stem cell hypothesis’ has gained a huge popularity due to its
ability to explain the causes of pitfalls present in management of cancers. Various cancer stem cell molecular
markers have been identified as being particular identity to particular cancer stem cells and they have been
shown to possess properties like self-renewal, tumorigenicity and differentiation similar to normal somatic
stem cells. This article outlines the introduction to stem cells, identification in head and neck squamous cell
carcinoma based on molecular markers like CD44+ and ALDH1+ and the proposed mechanisms of resistance
to conventional therapies. Various approaches that are underway to use the ‘cancer stem cell hypothesis’ in
management of cancer by targeting the signaling pathways of tumorigenesis are also enlightened here which
is assumed to invite a new era in cancer management.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; cancer stem cell hypothesis; molecular markers;
signaling pathways; tumorigenesis.