FER mediated HGF-independent regulation of HGFR/MET activates RAC1-PAK1 pathway to potentiate metastasis in ovarian cancer

Abstract

Uncontrolled metastasis significantly contributes to high lethality of patients suffering from ovarian cancer. To date, the detailed molecular mechanisms which account for ovarian tumor cell spreading and metastasis remain largely unknown. In a recent study, we have demonstrated that aberrantly high expression of the non-receptor tyrosine kinase FER is responsible for ovarian tumor cell metastasis both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, we indentified Hepatocyte Growth Factor Receptor HGFR/MET as a novel substrate of FER, and through which the kinase FER modulates ovarian cancer cell motility and invasiveness in a ligand-independent manner. We also observed aberrantly high expression of PAK1 kinase in cancer cells, and RNAi-mediated knockdown of FER kinase inactivated the RAC1-PAK1 signaling pathway and decreased metastatic potential of CAOV4 ovarian cancer cells. Overall, our study revealed a previously uncharacterized, pro-metastatic role of the kinase FER in ovarian cancer through the MET-RAC1-PAK1 pathway. Further efforts are essential to investigating beneficial outcomes towards targeting the RAC1-PAK1 signaling pathway in reducing metastatic burden of this deadly disease.