KLF4 ABLATION DISRUPTS ORAL EPITHELIAL DIFFERENTIATION AND INCREASES SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMAS UPON CHEMICAL CARCINOGENESIS

RAIMONDI ANA; ABRIGO MARIANELA; COZZARIN MARIA EUGENIA; BAL DE KIER JOFFÉ E.

Simposio; SISTAM 2015; 2015

Squamous cell carcinoma (SSC) of the head and neck is the sixth most commoncancer and is rarely diagnosed in early stages. The early events in oral SCCcarcinogenesis have been less studied and still poorly understood. In this regard,the transcription factor Krϋppel-like factor 4 (Klf4) suppresses cell proliferationand promotes differentiation in stratified epithelia and helps to maintainhomeostasis in epithelial cells. We have previously developed inducible micecarrying an oral-specific ablation of Klf4 (K14-CreERtam/Klf4flox/flox) which showedmild dysplastic lesions and abnormal differentiation in the tongue. With the aimto analyze if Klf4 cooperate in oral carcinogenesis we applied 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide (4NQO), a chemical carcinogen, to this conditional Klf4 knockout mice line.4NQO treated K14-CreERtam/Klf4flox/flox mice (KO 4NQO) showed a significantweight loss and developed more severe dysplastic lesions than control mice with4NQO (p