Hypoxia-Induced Long Noncoding RNA HIF1A-AS2 Regulates Stability of MHC Class I Protein in Head and Neck Cancer.

Intratumoral hypoxia not only promotes angiogenesis and invasiveness of cancer cells but also creates an immunosuppressive microenvironment that facilitates tumor progression. However, the mechanisms by which hypoxic tumor cells disseminate immunosuppressive signals remain unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that a hypoxia-induced long noncoding RNA HIF1A Antisense RNA 2 (HIF1A-AS2) is upregulated in hypoxic tumor cells and hypoxic tumor-derived exosomes in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).