adjunctive impact of mitochondria-targeting antibiotics for cancer stem cells of oral squamous cell carcinoma: proposal for a novel approach in resistant cases

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (oscc) is the most common cancer involving the oral and maxillofacial area [1]. oscc is reported to exert the worst quality of life among the patients suffering from head and neck cancers [2]. moreover, the rate of survival in these cases and the prognosis of oscc are the concerning issues among the oncologists and oral and maxillofacial sur-geons [3]. the current proposed treatment options can be a combination of surgical removal, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy [4-5]. despite the success of the ment-ioned treatment protocols employed in these cases, man-y patients still suffer from low quality of life and short-time survival rate after the surgeries in resistant and metastatic cases [2, 6-7]. these shortcomings have mo-tivated scientists to look for novel treatment options to alleviate the symptoms and improve the patients’ quali-ty of life, especially in resistant and recurrent cases [7].