Given our recent findings that MSCs home to the TME in oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer, collectively here referred to as oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and the recent reports of the role of MSCs in the context of chemotherapy resistance to platinum based agents, we sought to understand if crosstalk between MSCs and oral squamous cell carcinoma cells is mediated by PDGFRα/AKT signaling may be implicated in cisplatin resistance through changes in cancer cell apoptosis. The gene discussed is AKT1; the disease is oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma.