Cellular prion protein transcriptionally regulated by NFIL3 enhances lung cancer cell lamellipodium formation and migration through JNK signaling.

Abstract

Tumor invasion and metastasis are the major causes of treatment failure and mortality in lung cancer patients. In this study, we identified a group of genes with differential expression in in situ and invasive lung adenocarcinoma tissues by expression profiling; among these genes we further characterized the association of the upregulation of PRNP, the gene encoding cellular Prion protein (PrPc), with lung adenocarcinoma invasiveness. Immunohistochemistry on clinical specimens showed an association of PrPc expression with invasive but not in situ lung adenocarcinoma. Consistently, the expression of PrPc was higher in the highly invasive than in the lowly invasive lung adenocarcinoma cell lines. Knockdown of PrPc expression in cultured lung adenocarcinoma cells decreased their lamellipodium formation, in vitro migration and invasion, and in vivo experimental lung metastasis. Phosphorylation of JNKs was found to correlate with PrPc expression and the inhibition of JNKs suppressed the PrPc-induced up-regulation of lamellipodium formation, cell migration, and invasion. Moreover, we identified the nuclear factor, interleukin 3 regulated (NFIL3) protein as a transcriptional activator of the PRNP promoter. Accordingly, NFIL3 promoted lung cancer cell migration and invasion in a PrPc-dependent manner. High NFIL3 expression in clinical specimens of lung adenocarcinoma was also associated with tumor invasiveness. Overall, our observations suggest that the NFIL3/PrPc axis, through regulating lamellipodium formation and cell mobility via JNK signaling, plays a critical role in lung cancer invasiveness and metastasis.

• Authors: Shin-Chih Lin, Chia-Hung Lin, Nien-Chu Shih, Hsin-Ling Liu, Wen-Chao Wang, Kun-Yang Lin, Zih-Yu Liu, Yu-Jhen Tseng, Hsueh-Kai Chang, Yi-Cheng Lin, Yi-Chen Yeh, Hiroshi Minato, Takeshi Fujii, Yu-Chung Wu, Mei-Yu Chen, Teh-Ying Chou
• Journal: Oncogene (Oncogene) Vol. 39 Issue 2 Pg. 385-398 (01 2020) ISSN: 1476-5594 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 31477838 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Basic-Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors
• NFIL3 protein, human
• PRNP protein, human
• Prion Proteins

Topics

• Animals
• Basic-Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors (genetics)
• Cell Movement (genetics)
• Cell Proliferation (genetics)
• Female
• Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic (genetics)
• Humans
• In Situ Hybridization
• Lung Neoplasms (genetics, pathology)
• MAP Kinase Signaling System (genetics)
• Male
• Mice
• Neoplasm Invasiveness (genetics, pathology)
• Neoplasm Metastasis
• Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis (methods)
• Prion Proteins (genetics)
• Promoter Regions, Genetic (genetics)
• Pseudopodia (genetics, pathology)