Establishment and Characterization of a New Immortalized Human Oral Keratinocyte (HOK) Cell Line Harboring Various TP53 Mutations

While genomic evidence across multiple invasive and metastatic specimens indicates TP53 loss or mutation occurs relatively early in HNSCC carcinogenesis, it has been difficult to discern how TP53 mutation drives further tumor evolution and influences the tumor microenvironment.

To address this question, we generated an immortalized human oral keratinocyte (HOK) cell line expressing various TP53 mutant forms to determine how mutations impact functional and genomic characteristics of HOKs that can in turn drive their evolution to neoplastic cells. Key results revealed significant phenotypic and molecular divergence: high-risk lines exhibited enhanced invasiveness and chemoresistance compared to low-risk counterparts.