Project description:Collective cell migration (CCM) is essential for organism development, wound healing, and metastatic transition, the primary cause of cancer-related death, and it involves cell-cell adhesion molecules of the cadherin family. Increased P-cadherin expression levels are correlated with tumor aggressiveness in carcinoma and aggressive sarcoma; however, how P-cadherin promotes tumor malignancy remains unknown. Here, using integrated cell biology and biophysical approaches, we determined that P-cadherin specifically induces polarization and CCM through an increase in the strength and anisotropy of mechanical forces. We show that this mechanical regulation is mediated by the P-cadherin/β-PIX/Cdc42 axis; P-cadherin specifically activates Cdc42 through β-PIX, which is specifically recruited at cell-cell contacts upon CCM. This mechanism of cell polarization and migration is absent in cells expressing E- or R-cadherin. Thus, we identify a specific role of P-cadherin through β-PIX-mediated Cdc42 activation in the regulation of cell polarity and force anisotropy that drives CCM.
Project description:Cancer cells that originate from epithelial tissues typically lose epithelial specific cell-cell junctions, but these transformed cells are not devoid of cell-cell adhesion proteins. Using hepatocyte-growth-factor-treated MDCK cells that underwent a complete epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, we analyzed cell-cell adhesion between these highly invasive transformed epithelial cells in a three-dimensional (3D) collagen matrix. In a 3D matrix, these transformed cells formed elongated multicellular chains, and migrated faster and more persistently than single cells in isolation. In addition, the cell clusters were enriched with stress-fiber-like actin bundles that provided contractile forces. N-cadherin-knockdown cells failed to form cell-cell junctions or migrate, and the expression of the N-cadherin cytoplasmic or extracellular domain partially rescued the knockdown phenotype. By contrast, the expression of N-cadherin-α-catenin chimera rescued the knockdown phenotype, but individual cells within the cell clusters were less mobile. Together, our findings suggest that a dynamic N-cadherin and actin linkage is required for efficient 3D collective migration.
Project description:Cell dispersion from a confined area is fundamental in a number of biological processes, including cancer metastasis. To date, a quantitative understanding of the interplay of single-cell motility, cell proliferation, and intercellular contacts remains elusive. In particular, the role of E- and N-cadherin junctions, central components of intercellular contacts, is still controversial. Combining theoretical modeling with in vitro observations, we investigate the collective spreading behavior of colonies of human cancer cells (T24). The spreading of these colonies is driven by stochastic single-cell migration with frequent transient cell-cell contacts. We find that inhibition of E- and N-cadherin junctions decreases colony spreading and average spreading velocities, without affecting the strength of correlations in spreading velocities of neighboring cells. Based on a biophysical simulation model for cell migration, we show that the behavioral changes upon disruption of these junctions can be explained by reduced repulsive excluded volume interactions between cells. This suggests that in cancer cell migration, cadherin-based intercellular contacts sharpen cell boundaries leading to repulsive rather than cohesive interactions between cells, thereby promoting efficient cell spreading during collective migration.
Project description:MMPs (matrix metalloproteinases) and the related "a disintegrin and metalloproteinases" (ADAMs) promote tumorigenesis by cleaving extracellular matrix and protein substrates, including N-cadherin. Although N-cadherin is thought to regulate cell adhesion, migration, and invasion, its role has not been characterized in glioblastomas (GBMs). In this study, we investigated the expression and function of posttranslational N-cadherin cleavage in GBM cells as well as its regulation by protein kinase C (PKC). N-Cadherin cleavage occurred at a higher level in glioblastoma cells than in non-neoplastic astrocytes. Treatment with the PKC activator phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) increased N-cadherin cleavage, which was reduced by pharmacological inhibitors and short interfering RNA (siRNA) specific for ADAM-10 or PKC-alpha. Furthermore, treatment of GBM cells with PMA induced the translocation of ADAM-10 to the cell membrane, the site at which N-cadherin was cleaved, and this translocation was significantly reduced by the PKC-alpha inhibitor Gö6976 [12-(2-cyanoethyl)-6,7,12,13-tetrahydro-13-methyl-5-oxo-5H-indolo[2,3-a]pyrrolo[3,4-c]carbazole] or PKC-alpha short hairpin RNA. In functional studies, N-cadherin cleavage was required for GBM cell migration, as depletion of N-cadherin cleavage by N-cadherin siRNA, ADAM-10 siRNA, or a cleavage-site mutant N-cadherin, decreased GBM cell migration. Together, these results suggest that N-cadherin cleavage is regulated by a PKC-alpha-ADAM-10 cascade in GBM cells and may be involved in mediating GBM cell migration.
Project description:Discoidin domain receptor 1 (DDR1), a receptor tyrosine kinase of collagen, is primarily expressed in epithelial cells. Activation of DDR1 stabilises E-cadherin located on the cell membrane; however, the detailed mechanism of DDR1-stabilised E-cadherin remains unclear. We performed DDR1 knockdown (Sh-DDR1) on Mardin-Darby canine kidney cells to investigate the mechanism of DDR1-stabilised E-cadherin. Sh-DDR1 decreased junctional localisation, increased endocytosis of E-cadherin, and increased physical interactions between E-cadherin and clathrin. Treatment of the dynamin inhibitor Dyngo 4a suppressed Sh-DDR1-induced E-cadherin endocytosis. In addition, the phosphorylation level of Src tyrosine 418 was increased in Sh-DDR1 cell junctions, and inhibition of Src activity decreased Sh-DDR1-induced E-cadherin endocytosis. To characterise the molecular mechanisms, blocking integrin ?1 decreased Src activity and E-cadherin junctional localisation in Sh-DDR1 cells. Photoconversion results showed that inhibition of Src activity rescued E-cadherin membrane stability and that inhibition of integrin ?1-Src signalling decreased stress fibres and rescued E-cadherin membrane stability in Sh-DDR1 cells. Taken together, DDR1 stabilised membrane localisation of E-cadherin by inhibiting the integrin ?1-Src-mediated clathrin-dependent endocytosis pathway.
Project description:E-cadherin is a major homophilic cell-cell adhesion molecule that inhibits motility of individual cells on matrix. However, its contribution to migration of cells through cell-rich tissues is less clear. We developed an in vivo sensor of mechanical tension across E-cadherin molecules, which we combined with cell-type-specific RNAi, photoactivatable Rac, and morphodynamic profiling, to interrogate how E-cadherin contributes to collective migration of cells between other cells. Using the Drosophila ovary as a model, we found that adhesion between border cells and their substrate, the nurse cells, functions in a positive feedback loop with Rac and actin assembly to stabilize forward-directed protrusion and directionally persistent movement. Adhesion between individual border cells communicates direction from the lead cell to the followers. Adhesion between motile cells and polar cells holds the cluster together and polarizes each individual cell. Thus, E-cadherin is an integral component of the guidance mechanisms that orchestrate collective chemotaxis in vivo.
Project description:High-risk type II endometrial cancers account for ~30% of cases but ~75% of deaths due, in part, to their tendency to metastasize. Histopathological studies of type II endometrial cancers (non-endometrioid, mostly serous) suggest overproduction of activin B and down-regulation of E-cadherin, both of which are associated with reduced survival. Our previous studies have shown that activin B increases the migration of type II endometrial cancer cell lines. However, little is known about the relationship between activin B signaling and E-cadherin in endometrial cancer. We now demonstrate that activin B treatment significantly decreases E-cadherin expression in both a time- and concentration-dependent manner in KLE and HEC-50 cell lines. Interestingly, these effects were not inhibited by knockdown of SMAD2, SMAD3 or SMAD4. Rather, the suppressive effects of activin B on E-cadherin were mediated by MEK-ERK1/2-induced production of the transcription factor SNAIL. Importantly, activin B-induced cell migration was inhibited by forced-expression of E-cadherin or pre-treatment with the activin/TGF-β type I receptor inhibitor SB431542 or the MEK inhibitor U0126. We have identified a novel SMAD-independent pathway linking enhanced activin B signaling to reduced E-cadherin expression and increased migration in type II endometrial cancer.
Project description:Loss of E-cadherin (ECAD) is required in tumor metastasis. Protein degradation of ECAD in response to oxidative stress is found in metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and is independent of transcriptional repression as usually known. Mechanistically, protein kinase A (PKA) senses oxidative stress by redox modification in its β catalytic subunit (PRKACB) at Cys200 and Cys344. The activation of PKA kinase activity subsequently induces RNF25 phosphorylation at Ser450 to initiate RNF25-catalyzed degradation of ECAD. Functionally, RNF25 repression induces ECAD protein expression and inhibits HCC metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Altogether, these results indicate that RNF25 is a critical regulator of ECAD protein turnover, and PKA is a necessary redox sensor to enable this process. This study provides some mechanistic insight into how oxidative stress-induced ECAD degradation promotes tumor metastasis of HCC.
Project description:Since invasive bladder cancer (BC) is one of the most lethal urological malignant tumors worldwide, understanding the molecular mechanisms that trigger the migration, invasion, and metastasis of BC has great significance in reducing the mortality of this disease. Although RelA/p65, a member of the NF-kappa B transcription factor family, has been reported to be upregulated in human BCs, its regulation of BC motility and mechanisms have not been explored yet.NF-κBp65 expression was evaluated in N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)-nitrosamine (BBN)-induced high invasive BCs by immunohistochemistry staining and in human BC cell lines demonstrated by Western Blot. The effects of NF-κBp65 knockdown on BC cell migration and invasion, as well as its regulated RhoGDIα and FBW7, were also evaluated in T24T cells by using loss- and gain-function approaches. Moreover, the interaction of FBW7 with RhoGDIα was determined with immunoprecipitation assay, while critical role of ubiquitination of RhoGDIα by FBW7 was also demonstrated in the studies.p65 protein was remarkably upregulated in the BBN-induced high invasive BCs and in human BC cell lines. We also observed that p65 overexpression promoted BC cell migration by inhibiting RhoGDIα expression. The regulatory effect of p65 on RhoGDIα expression is mediated by its upregulation of FBW7, which specifically interacted with RhoGDIα and promoted RhoGDIα ubiquitination and degradation. Mechanistic studies revealed that p65 stabilizing the E3 ligase FBW7 protein was mediated by its attenuating pten mRNA transcription.We demonstrate that p65 overexpression inhibits pten mRNA transcription, which stabilizes the protein expression of ubiquitin E3 ligase FBW7, in turn increasing the ubiquitination and degradation of RhoGDIα protein and finally promoting human BC migration. The novel identification of p65/PTEN/FBW7/RhoGDIα axis provides a significant insight into understanding the nature of BC migration, further offering a new theoretical support for cancer therapy.
Project description:Activity of heparanase, responsible for cleavage of heparan sulfate (HS), is strongly implicated in tumor metastasis. This is due primarily to remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM) that becomes more prone to invasion by metastatic tumor cells. In addition, heparanase promotes the development of blood and lymph vessels that mobilize disseminated cells to distant organs. Here, we provide evidence for an additional mechanism by which heparanase affects cell motility, namely the destruction of E-cadherin based adherent junctions (AJ). We found that overexpression of heparanase or its exogenous addition results in reduced E-cadherin levels in the cell membrane. This was associated with a substantial increase in the phosphorylation levels of E-cadherin, β-catenin, and p120-catenin, the latter recognized as a substrate of Src. Indeed, we found that Src phosphorylation is increased in heparanase overexpressing cells, associating with a marked decrease in the interaction of E-cadherin with β-catenin, which is instrumental for AJ integrity and cell-cell adhesion. Notably, the association of E-cadherin with β-catenin in heparanase overexpressing cells was restored by Src inhibitor, along with reduced cell migration. These results imply that heparanase promotes tumor metastasis by virtue of its enzymatic activity responsible for remodeling of the ECM, and by signaling aspects that result in Src-mediated phosphorylation of E-cadherin/catenins and loosening of cell-cell contacts that are required for maintaining the integrity of epithelial sheets.