MTA1 contributes to actin cytoskeleton reorganization and metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma by modulating Rho GTPases and Hedgehog signaling.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is prone to appearing regional lymph node and distant metastasis. And its underlying mechanism is unclear. Recent study suggests that overexpression of metastasis-associated gene 1 (MTA1) was independently associated with poorer distant metastasis-free survival in NPC. However, it is still lack of direct evidence that MTA1 is responsible for aggressive phenotypes of NPC. Using stably transfected MTA1 knockdown or overexpression cells, we discovered the function of MTA1 in actin cytoskeleton reorganization and metastasis processing of NPC in this study. For the first time, our data demonstrate two tumor relevant molecular mechanisms, i.e. Rho GTPases and Hedgehog signaling both contribute to the effect of MTA1 on the aggressive phenotypes of NPC cells. In summary, the novel findings in this work provide further insight into the function of MTA1 and the molecular mechanism in the progression of NPC. Our results indicate that MTA1 might serve as a potential therapeutic target for advanced NPC.