Cancer cells are often found in an ischemic condition due to the rapid outgrowth of their vascular supply, and these cells are expected to develop an increased potential for local invasive growth. Since the first steps are characterized by increased motility and invasiveness, expression of molecules involved in cellular adhesion to extracellular matrix (ECM) is increased in the process of cancer cell invasion and metastasis. In this work we explored the molecular characteristics and its regulatory mechanism of hypoxic oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cells. Our experiment identified that hypoxia increases α5 integrin protein levels through phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway in OSCC cells.

Ⅰ. INTRODUCTION
 Ⅱ. MATERIALS AND METHODS
  1. Cell culture and treatment
  2. Reagents
  3. Western blot analysis
 Ⅲ. RESULTS
  1. Hypoxia differentially affects levels of varioussubunits of integrin receptors in OSCC cells
  2. Hypoxia activates Akt transiently and laterincreases Erk activity of OSCC cells
  3. α5 subunit of integrin receptors is regulatedvia PI3K/Akt pathway under hypoxic condition
  4. Regulations of fibronectin and α5 integrin aredependent on different signaling molecules
 Ⅳ. DISCUSSION
 Ⅴ. REFERENCES

• 박정희(School of Dentistry, Pusan National University Department of Oral Pathology) | Jeong Hee Park
• 박지은(School of Dentistry, Pusan National University Department of Oral Pathology) | Ji Eun Park
• 우복희(School of Dentistry, Pusan National University Department of Oral Pathology) | Vok Hee Woo
• 박봉수(School of Dentistry, Pusan National University Department of Oral Anatomy) | Bong Soo Park
• 정진(School of Dentistry, Pusan National University Department of Oral microbiology) | Jin Chung
• 유미현(School of Dentistry, Pusan National University Department of Oral Pathology) | Mi Heon Ryu
• 박혜련(School of Dentistry, Pusan National University Department of Oral Pathology) | Hae Ryoun Park correspondence