The School of Arts and Sciences (SoAS) invites you to a research seminar titled Signaling Stories in Cancer Cell Metastasis: Who Is Steering the Wheel? The talk will be presented by LAU Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology Mirvat El-Sibai. 

 

This event is part of the SoAS Research Seminar Series. 

 

Click here to attend the seminar. 

 

Abstract: Metastasis remains the main challenge to overcome for treating many types of tumors and the main reason for cancer morbidity. This is a summary of a series of studies that investigate signal transduction pathways leading to cancer cell migration and invasion. Our lab mostly investigates the role of RhoGTPases, Cdc42, Rac1 and RhoA/C in particular, as well as their regulators, such as the GAP StarD13 in the modulation of the actin cytoskeleton, leading to the invasion of cancer cells. In ovarian cancer cells, StarD13 depletion did not affect 2D motility, however it inhibited matrix degradation, invadopodia formation and cell invasion. This was found to be mostly mediated through the inhibition of Cdc42, but not RhoA. StarD13 did not localize to mature TKS4-labeled invadopodia that possess matrix degradation ability, while a Cdc42 FRET biosensor, detected Cdc42 activation in these invadopodia. In fact, StarD13 localization and Cdc42 activation appeared mutually exclusive in invadopodial structures. Finally, for the first time we uncovered a potential role of Cdc42 in the direct recruitment of TKS4 to invadopodia in ovarian cancer cells. This suggests a new role of Cdc42 in the organization of invadopodia at the site of cancer cell invasion. This study emphasizes the specific role of StarD13 as a narrow spatial regulator of Cdc42, inhibiting invasion, suggesting the suitability of StarD13 for targeted therapy.