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Hypoxia is one of the most common features of cancer. It is also associated with cancer progression and the acquisition of aggressiveness,
which includes invasion and metastasis. Oral squamous cell carcinoma accounts for 90% of all oral cancers, and its 5-year survival rate
is about 50%. Despite various attempts and trials, its prognosis has not improved. Among numerous adverse prognostic factors, hypoxia
is suspected as one of the most important factors, as it increases the aggressiveness of oral cancer cells. We attempted to observe
the effect of hypoxia on the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers in oral cancer cells. We analyzed and compared both
the mRNA and protein expression levels of epithelial-mesenchymal markers using qRT-PCR and western blotting in both normoxic and
hypoxic YD10B oral squamous cell carcinoma cells. Eighty-six genes were analyzed through real-time PCR using commercial microarray
plates, performed in triplicate. Among the 86 genes, the expression of 24 were increased (≥ 2 fold) by hypoxia, while that of three genes
was decreased (≥ 2 fold). Hypoxia significantly affects epithelial-mesenchymal transition-related genes. Further studies on the regulation
of these genes may help to develop more efficient therapeutic modalities for oral cancer and to improve prognosis of oral cancer patients.
Key words : Hypoxia, Oral cancer, Epithelial-mesenchymal transition, TCF-4