Abstract Single disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) found in secondary organs (i.e. bone marrow BM, lung, liver) appear to activate a quiescence program and undergo a dormancy phase triggered by specific tissue microenvironment signals. The timing of this asymptomatic clinical phase may rely on specific signals that convert a previous non-permissive/non-proliferative environment into a permissive one, fueling metastasis development. The mechanisms underlying dormancy and means to maintain this state remain unknown. Here we show that the orphan nuclear receptor NR2F1/COUP-TF1 is silenced in breast and HNSCC tumors, cancer cell lines and MMTV-Neu and -Myc mouse tumor models. Surprisingly, retinoid signaling, stress signaling and microenvironmental cues from target organs (i.e. bone marrow) can induce re-expression of NR2F1 and dormancy of HNSCC cells. Forced NR2F1 re-expression resulted in induction of tumor cell quiescence in vivo and this effect depended on the expression of the transcription factor SOX9 and p27 induction. In contrast, RNAi-mediated silencing of NR2F1 or SOX9 interrupted the quiescence of dormant tumor cells. Further, quiescence induction was associated with p27, p15, p16 and HES-1. Mechanistic analysis revealed that NR2F1 is primarily nuclear and that its expression is activated by MKK6-p38α stress signaling and is negatively regulated by DNA promoter methylation. Lastly, we showed that atRA treatment followed 5-Aza-C treatment reprograms tumorigenic cells into dormancy in an NR2F1-dependent fashion. Our data suggest that re-expression of NR2F1 may promote reprogramming of aggressive tumor cells into dormancy identifying a new target for maintenance therapies for residual disease. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4262. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-4262