RASSF1C oncogene elicits amoeboid invasion, cancer stemness, and extracellular vesicle release via a SRC/Rho axis.
Maria Laura TognoliNikola VlahovSander SteenbeekAnna M GrawendaMichael EyresDavid Cano-RodriguezSimon ScraceChristiana KartsonakiAlexander von KriegsheimEduard WillmsMatthew J WoodMarianne G RotsJacco van RheenenEric O'NeillDaniela PankovaPublished in: The EMBO journal (2021)
Cell plasticity is a crucial hallmark leading to cancer metastasis. Upregulation of Rho/ROCK pathway drives actomyosin contractility, protrusive forces, and contributes to the occurrence of highly invasive amoeboid cells in tumors. Cancer stem cells are similarly associated with metastasis, but how these populations arise in tumors is not fully understood. Here, we show that the novel oncogene RASSF1C drives mesenchymal-to-amoeboid transition and stem cell attributes in breast cancer cells. Mechanistically, RASSF1C activates Rho/ROCK via SRC-mediated RhoGDI inhibition, resulting in generation of actomyosin contractility. Moreover, we demonstrate that RASSF1C-induced amoeboid cells display increased expression of cancer stem-like markers such as CD133, ALDH1, and Nanog, and are accompanied by higher invasive potential in vitro and in vivo. Further, RASSF1C-induced amoeboid cells employ extracellular vesicles to transfer the invasive phenotype to target cells and tissue. Importantly, the underlying RASSF1C-driven biological processes concur to explain clinical data: namely, methylation of the RASSF1C promoter correlates with better survival in early-stage breast cancer patients. Therefore, we propose the use of RASSF1 gene promoter methylation status as a biomarker for patient stratification.
Keyphrases
- induced apoptosis
- stem cells
- cell cycle arrest
- early stage
- papillary thyroid
- dna methylation
- cancer stem cells
- poor prognosis
- gene expression
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- breast cancer cells
- signaling pathway
- transcription factor
- cell proliferation
- genome wide
- tyrosine kinase
- squamous cell carcinoma
- cell death
- high glucose
- bone marrow
- risk assessment
- machine learning
- climate change
- cell therapy
- lymph node metastasis
- big data
- artificial intelligence
- childhood cancer
- case report
- rectal cancer
- single cell
- cell migration
- endothelial cells
- drug induced
- neoadjuvant chemotherapy
- locally advanced