Expression of Cancer Stem Cell Biomarkers in Human Head and Neck Carcinomas: a Systematic Review Raissa Borges Curtarelli 1 & Jussara Maria Gonçalves 1 & Luciane Geanini Pena dos Santos 1 & Maria Gorete Savi 2 & Jacques Eduardo Nör 3 & Luis André Mendonça Mezzomo 4 & Mabel Mariela Rodríguez Cordeiro 5 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Malignant neoplasms may be composed of several cell groups, including cancer stem cells (CSC). These cells have been related with the capacity of metastasis, relapse and resistance to multiple drugs during chemotherapy. This study aims to identify CSC biomarkers and their expression pattern in human head and neck carcinomas. This study was conducted following the PRISMA checklist. The search for articles was carried out in five databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Lilacs and Scielo). The articles found were selected in two phases: 1) reading the titles and / or abstract and 2) reading the full text. At the end, the selected articles were evaluated by QUADAS-2. Most studies evaluated oral neoplastic tissues and, as a control, samples of normal local mucosa. All studies performed immunohistochemistry as a method of immunolocalization and some also applied immunoflu- orescence. The most commonly used biomarker was CD44. However, other such as Sox2, Oct4, Nestin, Nanog, BMI1, ALDH1, CD133 and CD166 were also found. Several biomarkers were (ALDH1, Sox2, Oct4, ABCB5, AGR2 and TAZ) correlated with clinical characteristics of the tumor, such as staging, tumor size and lymph node metastasis. These data reinforce the CSC theory and favor the use of these biomarkers as possible determinants of prognosis. Keywords Head and neck cancer . Oral Cancer . Stem cells . Cancer stem cells . Biological tumor markers Introduction Cancers figure among the leading causes of morbidity and mor- tality worldwide, with approximately 14 million new cases and 8.2 million deaths in 2012. More than 60% of world’ s total new annual cases occur in Africa, Asia and Central and South America. These regions account for 70% of the cancer mortality in the world. It is expected that annual cancer cases will rise from 14 million in 2012 to 22 million (a 70% increase) within the next 2 decades [1]. Analyzing only head and neck cancers worldwide, the annual incidence of this condition is of more than 550,000 new cases and 300,000 deaths each year. Male to * Jussara Maria Gonçalves jussara.m@posgrad.ufsc.br; jussaramariagoncalves@yahoo.com.br Raissa Borges Curtarelli raissa.curtarelli@posgrad.ufsc.br Luciane Geanini Pena dos Santos luciane.geanini@ufpel.edu.br Maria Gorete Savi gorete.savi@ufsc.br Jacques Eduardo Nör jenor@umich.edu Luis André Mendonça Mezzomo l.mezzomo@ufsc.br Mabel Mariela Rodríguez Cordeiro m.cordeiro@ufsc.br 1 Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Reitor João David Ferreira Lima Campus, Florianopolis, Santa Catarina Zip Code 88040-900, Brazil 2 University Library, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil 3 Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences, and Endodontics, University of Michigan School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor, MI, USA 4 Department of Dentistry, Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil 5 Department of Morphological Sciences, Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Trindade, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil Stem Cell Reviews and Reports https://doi.org/10.1007/s12015-018-9839-4