Loss of polarity protein AF6 promotes pancreatic cancer metastasis by inducing Snail expression

• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8184
• Publication Date: 2015-05-27T13:35:39Z
• Authors: Yi Xu; Renxu Chang; Zhiyong Peng; Yanmei Wang; Weiwei Ji; Jingyu Guo; Lele Song; Cheng Dai; Wei Wei; Yanjun Wu; Xinjian Wan; Chenghao Shao; Lixing Zhan
• Keywords: Dishevelled

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a particularly lethal form of with high potential for metastasis to distant organs. Disruption cell polarity hallmark advanced epithelial tumours. Here we show that the protein AF6 (afadin and MLLT4) expressed at low levels in PC. We demonstrate depletion markedly promotes proliferation PC cells through upregulation expression Snail protein, this requires nuclear localization AF6. Furthermore, deficiency leads increased formation Dishevelled 2 (Dvl2)-FOXE1 complex on promoter region gene, activation expression. Altogether, our data established as inhibitor cells. Targeting Dvl2-FOXE1-Snail signalling axis may thus represent promising therapeutic strategy.