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ECM1 regulates tumor metastasis and CSC-like property through stabilization of β-catenin

Oncogene volume 34, pages 6055–6065 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Extracellular Matrix Protein 1 (ECM1) is a marker for tumorigenesis and is correlated with invasiveness and poor prognosis in various types of cancer. However, the functional role of ECM1 in cancer metastasis is unclear. Here, we detected high ECM1 level in breast cancer patient sera that was associated with recurrence of tumor. The modulation of ECM1 expression affected not only cell migration and invasion, but also sphere-forming ability and drug resistance in breast cancer cell lines. In addition, ECM1 regulated the gene expression associated with the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) progression and cancer stem cell (CSC) maintenance. Interestingly, ECM1 increased β-catenin expression at the post-translational level through induction of MUC1, which was physically associated with β-catenin. Indeed, the association between β-catenin and the MUC1 cytoplasmic tail was increased by ECM1. Furthermore, forced expression of β-catenin altered the gene expression that potentiated EMT progression and CSC phenotype maintenance in the cells. These data provide evidence that ECM1 has an important role in cancer metastasis through β-catenin stabilization.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by an NRF grant (2013-059143) from the Korea Research Foundation and Converging Research Center Program (2014048814).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Science, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea

    K-m Lee, K Nam, S Oh, J Lim, R K Kim, D Shim, J-h Choi, S-J Lee & I Shin

  2. Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, University of Ulsan and Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea

    J-H Yu, J W Lee & S H Ahn

  3. Natural Science Institute, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea

    I Shin

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Lee, Km., Nam, K., Oh, S. et al. ECM1 regulates tumor metastasis and CSC-like property through stabilization of β-catenin. Oncogene 34, 6055–6065 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2015.54

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