Authors
Lan Lan, Xinyu Wang, Xiaoqi Jiang, Xiangyi Lin, Yancheng Lai, Wen Tan, Shaosen Zhang, Dongxin Lin, Chen Wu
Published in
Cancer communications (London, England). Volume 46. Pages 0051. Epub Oct 19, 2026.
Abstract
Squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) develop from the stratified epithelia of the esophagus, head and neck, lung, and skin, providing a tractable model to investigate how altered epithelial fields progress toward invasive cancer. Across SCC subtypes, evolution often begins before overt malignancy, with age- and exposure-associated mutant clones expanding within histologically normal epithelia. As lesions advance, early driver selection becomes coupled to copy number alterations, chromosomal instability, and epigenetic remodeling, whereas later stages are shaped by branching diversification, cellular plasticity, and regionally constrained selection. Despite tissue-specific differences, several recurrent principles emerge, including clonal expansion within mutated normal fields, transition bottlenecks marked by genome-scale instability, and the spatial organization of subclonal architecture and invasive-front states. In this review, we synthesize recent progress in the temporal ordering and spatial patterning of SCC evolution and discuss how genetic alterations, epigenetic remodeling, and tissue ecology jointly drive disease progression. We further highlight the implications for early interception, biomarker development, immune evasion, and evolution-informed prevention and therapy.
PMID:
42898679
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 20 Oct 2026.
Read full publication at:
Please sign in
to see all details.
Advertisement
Stats
- Recommendations n/a n/a positive of 0 vote(s)
- Views 6
- Comments 0