Despite the fact that ARID1A is known to affect p53-p21 and AKT in order to suppress oncogenicity [18-20, 43], this study further shows that ARID1A trans-inactivates the Nanog/OCT4/Sox2 stemness genes; these are known, together with EpCAM tumor antigen, to be involved in the repression of both oncogenesis and stemness in HNSCC. The gene discussed is AKT1; the disease is head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.