Abstract 1529: MYC and HIF-2alpha cooperates in oral squamous carcinoma cell self-renewal during hypoxia

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a global health challenge. The overall survival rate of this devastating disease has not significantly changed, and the biology of this type of cancer also remain largely unexplored. To enhance the understanding of this disease through global heath cancer research collaborative effort, we have set up an international collaboration between Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, and KaviKrishna laboratory, which is located in Kamrup district of Assam, having highest incidence of oral cancer in the world. Through this collaborative effort we intend to explore the role of hypoxia in oral cancer progression, metastasis and therapy resistance. Method: We used an oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line SSC25 for this purpose, and performed several experiments using a well-described in vitro assay of CSC self-renewal under hypoxia. Results: We identified a rare ABCG2+ expressing, highly tumorigenic cell population in SSC-25 having cancer stem cell (CSC) like characteristics in the in vivo serial transplantation assay, as well as high metastatic activity to bone marrow of NOD/SCID mice. The ABCG2+ cells, when exposed to hypoxia (