Sandeep Singh

Biography

In opposite to the prevailing theory where all the cancer cells have equal and similar proliferative capacity and opportunity for regenerating tumor growth and spread, a school of thought suggests that cancers are organized into aberrant cell hierarchies where it is mainly driven by a subset of cancer cells called ‘stem-like cancer cells’ that have the ability to self-renew themselves and generate the heterogeneous lineages of other cells types that comprise the whole tumor. It is believed that oncogenic transformations of the normal stem cells or the progenitor cells results in deregulated self-renewal and give rise to stem-like cancer cells. Aberrant symmetric or asymmetric cell division maintains the number of stem-like cancer cells within the tumor, whereas its descendent progeny constitute the bulk of the heterogeneous tumor. The descendant cancer cells eventually become terminally differentiated and stop dividing, therefore are non-tumorigenic. Stem-like cancer cells may remain dormant, evade offered therapy or metastasize to recapitulate the tumor growth. Being the only cell type with extensive replicative potential and cancer driving ability, my research goal is to comprehend the biology of the stem-like cancer cells with respect to their self-renewal, differentiation, functional heterogeneity and interactions with its niche within solid tumors.

Research Interest

(a) Establishing the platform for isolation, purification and characterization of SLCCs from oral tumors (b) Understanding heterogeneity among Oral-SLCCs and its functional consequences (c) Exploring the role of tumor-microenvironment in oral cancer progression