Cancer invasion is a hallmark of metastasis. The mesenchymal mode of cancer cell invasion is mediated by elongated membrane protrusions driven by the assembly of branched F-actin networks. How deregulation of actin regulators promotes cancer cell invasion is still enigmatic. We report that increased expression and membrane localization of the actin regulator Lamellipodin correlates with reduced metastasis-free survival and poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. In agreement we find that Lamellipodin depletion reduced lung metastasis in an orthotopic mouse breast cancer model. Invasive 3D cancer cell migration as well as invadopodia formation, and matrix degradation were impaired upon Lamellipodin depletion. Mechanistically, we show that Lamellipodin promotes invasive 3D cancer cell migration via both actin-elongating Ena/VASP proteins and the Scar/WAVE complex, which stimulates actin branching. In contrast, Lamellipodin interaction with Scar/WAVE but not Ena/VASP is required for random 2D cell migration. We identify a phosphorylation-dependent mechanism that regulates selective recruitment of these effectors to Lamellipodin: Abl-mediated Lamellipodin phosphorylation promotes its association with both Scar/WAVE and Ena/VASP, while Src-dependent phosphorylation enhances binding to Scar/WAVE but not Ena/VASP. Through these selective, regulated interactions Lamellipodin mediates directional sensing of EGF gradients and invasive 3D migration of breast cancer cells. Our findings imply that increased Lamellipodin levels enhance Ena/VASP and Scar/WAVE activities at the plasma membrane to promote 3D invasion and metastasis.

Fatty acid synthase (FASN) is commonly overexpressed in prostate cancer and associated with tumour progression. FASN is responsible for de novo synthesis of the fatty acid palmitate; the building block for protein palmitoylation. Recent work has suggested that alongside its established role in promoting cell proliferation FASN may also promote invasion. We now find depletion of FASN expression increases prostate cancer cell adhesiveness, impairs HGF-mediated cell migration and reduces 3D invasion. These changes in motility suggest that FASN can mediate actin cytoskeletal remodelling; a process known to be downstream of Rho family GTPases. Here, we demonstrate that modulation of FASN expression specifically impacts on the palmitoylation of the atypical GTPase RhoU. Impaired RhoU activity in FASN depleted cells leads to reduced adhesion turnover downstream of paxillin serine phosphorylation, which is rescued by addition of exogenous palmitate. Moreover, canonical Cdc42 expression is dependent on the palmitoylation status of RhoU. Thus we uncover a novel relationship between FASN, RhoU and Cdc42 that directly influences cell migration potential. These results provide compelling evidence that FASN activity directly promotes cell migration and supports FASN as a potential therapeutic target in metastatic prostate cancer.

Urothelial bladder cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, causing an estimated 150,000 deaths per year. Whilst non-muscle-invasive bladder tumours can be effectively treated, with high survival rates, many tumours recur, and some will progress to muscle-invasive disease with a much poorer long term prognosis. Thus there is a pressing need to understand the molecular transitions occurring within the progression of bladder cancer to an invasive disease. Tumour invasion is often associated with a down regulation of E-cadherin expression concomitant with a suppression of cell: cell junctions and decreased levels of E-cadherin expression have been reported in higher grade urothelial bladder tumours. We find that expression of E-cadherin in a panel of bladder cancer cell lines correlated with the presence of cell: cell junctions and the level of PAK5 expression. Interestingly exogenous PAK5 has recently been described to be associated with cell: cell junctions and we now find that endogenous PAK5 is localised to cell junctions and interacts with an E-cadherin complex. Moreover, depletion of PAK5 expression significantly reduced junctional integrity. These data suggest a role for PAK5 in maintaining junctional stability and we find that in both our own patient samples and a commercially available datasets that PAK5mRNA levels are reduced in human bladder cancer compared to normal controls. Taken together this study proposes that PAK5 expression levels could be used as a novel prognostic marker for bladder cancer progression. PAK5 mediates cell: cell adhesion integrity via interaction with E-cadherin in bladder cancer cells AbstractUrothelial bladder cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, causing an estimated 150,000 deaths per year. Whilst non-muscle-invasive bladder tumours can be effectively treated, with high survival rates, many tumours recur, and some will progress to muscle-invasive disease with a much poorer long term prognosis. Thus there is a pressing need to understand the molecular transitions occurring within the progression of bladder cancer to an invasive disease. Tumour invasion is often associated with a down regulation of E-cadherin expression concomitant with a suppression of cell: cell junctions and decreased levels of Ecadherin expression have been reported in higher grade urothelial bladder tumours.We find that expression of E-cadherin in a panel of bladder cancer cell lines correlated with the presence of cell: cell junctions and the level of PAK5 expression.Interestingly exogenous PAK5 has recently been described to be associated with cell: cell junctions and we now find that endogenous PAK5 is localised to cell junctions and interacts with an E-cadherin complex. Moreover, depletion of PAK5 expression significantly reduced junctional integrity. These data suggest a role for PAK5 in maintaining junctional stability and we find that in both our own patient samples and a commercially available datasets that PAK5mRNA levels are reduced in human bladder c...

Fatty acid synthase (FASN) is commonly overexpressed in prostate cancer and associated with tumour progression. FASN is responsible for de novo synthesis of the fatty acid palmitate; the building block for protein palmitoylation. A functional role for FASN in regulating cell proliferation is widely accepted. We recently reported that FASN activity can also mediate prostate cancer HGFmediated cell motility. Moreover, we found that modulation of FASN expression specifically impacts on the palmitoylation of RhoU. Findings we will describe here. We now report that loss of FASN expression also impairs HGF-mediated cell dissociation responses. Taken together our results provide compelling evidence that FASN activity directly promotes cell migration and supports FASN as a potential therapeutic target in metastatic prostate cancer.