Downregulation of IRS-1 promotes metastasis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Lymph node metastasis is responsible for the high morbidity of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). To date, the role of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1) in tumorigenesis and metastasis of head and neck cancer has not been elucidated. In this study, we found a negative correlation of IRS-1 expression with tumor metastasis both in human tissue samples and in cell lines. Furthermore, we found that knockdown of IRS-1 expression enhanced cell invasive potency and induced EMT in parallel with upregulation of miR-9 expression. We propose that IRS-1 suppresses metastasis of head and neck cancer possibly through miR-9.