New Study Reveals Function and Mechanism of NEDD9 in Lung Cancer Metastasis

Metastasis is the most important cause for high mortality of lung cancer. However, the underlying mechanisms still remain poorly understood. Now researchers from Chinese Academy of Sciences find that NEDD9 plays as an important mediator in lung cancer metastasis process via epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) potentially through regulating FAK activation.

NEDD9 is a non-catalytic scaffold protein, and has been implicated in the metastasis process of several types of solid cancers, including melanoma and breast cancer. However, the exact role and related mechanisms of NEDD9 in lung cancer metastasis have not been explored yet.

Dr. JI Hongbin’s group from the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology has been focusing on the molecular mechanisms involved in lung cancer initiation, progression and metastasis for past several years. Recently, they have reported that NEDD9 is a critical downstream mediator in lung cancer progression evoked by LKB1 loss. However, the roles and the related mechanisms of NEDD9 in lung cancer metastasis are still unclear. In this study, they provide strong evidences supporting NEDD9 as an important mediator in lung cancer metastasis. NEDD9 knockdown significantly inhibits the migration, invasion and metastasis of lung cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. The pro-metastasis role of NEDD9 in lung cancer was further supported by studies in mice models of spontaneous cancer metastasis.

Moreover, the work uncovers the mechanism of NEDD9 in contribution to lung cancer metastasis via EMT potentially through FAK activation. More importantly, NEDD9 expression inversely correlates with E-cadherin expression in human lung cancer specimens, consistent with the findings from in vitro work. This study provides strong functional evidences and mechanistic insights into lung cancer metastasis and identifies a potential target for future metastatic lung cancer therapy.

This work entitled “NEDD9 promotes lung cancer metastasis through epithelial–mesenchymal transition” was published online in International Journal of Cancer on October 31, 2013. This project was supported by National Basic Research Program of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, Postdoctor Research Program of Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Sanofi-Aventis Shanghai institutes for biological sciences (SA-SIBS) scholarship program.

CONTACT:
JI Hongbin
Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
Tel: +86-21-54921108
Fax: +86-21-54921101
Email: hbji@sibcb.ac.cn