ITGA3 interacts with VASP to regulate stemness and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of breast cancer cells.
BACKGROUND
The interaction of integrin and extracellular matrix (ECM) has a profound implication on pathological conditions such as tumor growth and infiltration. Related reports have confirmed that integrin α3 (ITGA3) influences the development of bladder cancer, head and neck cancer, colorectal cancer and other cancers. However, the mechanism of ITGA3 in breast cancer is unknown.


METHODS
The impact of ITGA3 on the biological features of breast cancer cells was explored using the Transwell and wound healing assays. In addition, its influence on stemness of breast cancer cells was examined with the sphere formation assay. The possible mechanism by which ITGA3 regulates breast cancer was explored using Western blot. The interaction between ITGA3 and VASP was determined by co-immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence staining assays.


RESULTS
Results show that downregulation of ITGA3 promotes breast cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and migration. Indeed, suppression of ITGA3 negatively regulates the stemness of breast cancer cells and EMT process. Our findings indicate that ITGA3 interacts with VASP and regulates its expression, and knockdown of ITGA3 inhibits the activity of the PI3K-AKT axis.


CONCLUSION
Our results show that ITGA3-VASP modulates breast cancer cell stemness, EMT and PI3K-AKT pathways. Therefore, ITGA3 might be a druggable target for clinical breast cancer management.
['Zhang|Han|H|', 'Cui|Xinye|X|', "Cao|An'na|A|", 'Li|Xinglong|X|', 'Li|Lianhong|L|']
D015153:Blotting, Western D001943:Breast Neoplasms D063646:Carcinogenesis D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules D045744:Cell Line, Tumor D002465:Cell Movement D015536:Down-Regulation D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition D005260:Female D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic D006801:Humans D039422:Integrin alpha3 D008840:Microfilament Proteins D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells D010750:Phosphoproteins D015398:Signal Transduction
ITGA3 VASP Stemness Breast cancer EMT