Raffaela Santoro1, Marco Zanotto1, Carmine Carbone1, Geny Piro1,2, Giampaolo Tortora2,3, Davide Melisi4,3. 1. Digestive Molecular Clinical Oncology Research Unit, Department of Medicine, Università degli studi di Verona, Verona, Italy. 2. Laboratory of Oncology and Molecular Therapy, Department of Medicine, Università degli studi di Verona, Verona, Italy. 3. Medical Oncology Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata, Verona, Italy. 4. Digestive Molecular Clinical Oncology Research Unit, Department of Medicine, Università degli studi di Verona, Verona, Italy davide.melisi@univr.it.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIM: Pancreatic cancer is one of the most threatening and poorly understood human malignancies. MEKK3 (MAP3K3) is a serine/threonine kinase activated by different signaling pathways. YAP and TAZ are critical oncogenic effectors in pancreatic cancer. We hypothesized that MEKK3 could sustain pancreatic cancer by inducing YAP/TAZ oncogenic activities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In Panc1 and AsPC1 pancreatic cancer cell lines MEKK3 was knocked-out (KO) by the CRISPR/Cas9 method. These cells were used to evaluate MEKK3 contribution to the expression of YAP/TAZ and their target genes, cell migration, stemness, and in vivo tumor growth. RESULTS: MEKK3 KO reduced both EMT and cell migration, the size of 3D colonies and the percentage of CD44+/CD24+/EpCAM+ CSC, promoter recruitment of YAP/TAZ and the expression of their target genes. It reduced tumor growth and prolonged mice overall survival. CONCLUSION: Silencing of MEKK3 represents a valid approach to revert in vivo the aggressiveness of pancreatic cancer by modulating YAP/TAZ transcriptional activities. Copyright
BACKGROUND/AIM: Pancreatic cancer is one of the most threatening and poorly understood humanmalignancies. MEKK3 (MAP3K3) is a serine/threonine kinase activated by different signaling pathways. YAP and TAZ are critical oncogenic effectors in pancreatic cancer. We hypothesized that MEKK3 could sustain pancreatic cancer by inducing YAP/TAZ oncogenic activities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In Panc1 and AsPC1 pancreatic cancer cell lines MEKK3 was knocked-out (KO) by the CRISPR/Cas9 method. These cells were used to evaluate MEKK3 contribution to the expression of YAP/TAZ and their target genes, cell migration, stemness, and in vivo tumor growth. RESULTS:MEKK3 KO reduced both EMT and cell migration, the size of 3D colonies and the percentage of CD44+/CD24+/EpCAM+ CSC, promoter recruitment of YAP/TAZ and the expression of their target genes. It reduced tumor growth and prolonged mice overall survival. CONCLUSION: Silencing of MEKK3 represents a valid approach to revert in vivo the aggressiveness of pancreatic cancer by modulating YAP/TAZ transcriptional activities. Copyright