Abstract 968: Podoplanin's diverse potential as a chemotherapeutic target for oral squamous cell carcinom

Oral cancer is diagnosed in over 300 thousand people, and kills over 100 thousand people, around the world each year. Current treatments rely on radiation and surgery procedures that often decrease the quality of life for oral cancer survivors. There is a clear need to improve treatments for these patients. Over 90% of oral cancers are oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Most OSCC cells express the transmembrane receptor podoplanin (PDPN), which has emerged as a promising target for OSCC treatment. The PDPN receptor promotes tumor cell invasion and metastasis which leads to the vast majority of cancer deaths. Here, we describe efforts to target PDPN in order to prevent and treat oral cancer. PDPN can be targeted with Maackia amurensis seed lectin (MASL) to inhibit tumor cell migration and viability. Recent evidence also suggests that PDPN may undergo cancer specific changes, which indicates another potential route for targeting PDPN in oral cancer. Taken together, these data indicate that PDPN can serve as a functionally relevant target to prevent and combat oral cancer. Citation Format: Edward P. Retzbach, Harini Krishnan, Jhon A. Ochoa-Alvarez, Yongquan Shen, Evan Nevel, David J. Kephart, Evelyne Kalyoussef, Soly Baredes, Mahnaz Fatahzadeh, Kingsley Yin, Alan J. Shienbaum, Yukinari Kato, Lasse Jensen, Gary S. Goldberg. Podoplanin9s diverse potential as a chemotherapeutic target for oral squamous cell carcinom [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 968. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-968