The Transcription Factor BMI1 Increases Hypoxic Signaling in Oral Cavity Epithelia

The tongue epithelium is maintained by a proliferative basal layer. This layer contains long-lived stem cells (SCs), which produce progeny cells that move up to the surface as they differentiate. B-lymphoma Mo-MLV insertion region 1 (BMI1), a protein in mammalian Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 (PRC1) and a biomarker of oral squamous cell carcinoma, is expressed in almost all basal epithelial SCs of the tongue, and single, Bmi1-labelled SCs give rise to cells in all epithelial layers. We previously developed a transgenic mouse model (KrTB) containing a doxycycline- (dox) controlled, Tet-responsive element system to selectively overexpress Bmi1 in the tongue basal epithelial SCs. Here, we used this model to assess BMI1 actions in tongue epithelia. Genome-wide transcriptomics revealed increased levels of transcripts involved in the cellular response to hypoxia in Bmi1-overexpressing (KrTB+DOX) oral epithelia even though these mice were not subjected to hypoxia conditions. Ectopic Bmi1 expression in tongue epithelia increased the levels of hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF1α) and HIF1α targets linked to metabolic reprogramming during hypoxia. We used chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) to demonstrate that Bmi1 associates with the promoters of HIF1A and HIF1A-activator RELA (p65) in tongue epithelia. We also detected increased SC proliferation and oxidative stress in Bmi1-overexpressing tongue epithelia. Finally, using a human oral keratinocyte line (OKF6-TERT1R), we showed that ectopic BMI1 overexpression decreases the oxygen consumption rate while increasing the extracellular acidification rate, indicative of elevated glycolysis. Thus, our data demonstrate that high BMI1 expression drives hypoxic signaling, including metabolic reprogramming, in normal oral cavity epithelia.