CCBIO seminar: Emily N. Arner
AXL-TBK1-driven nuclear AKT3 stabilizes Snail/Slug to promote EMT
Hovedinnhold
Emily N. Arner
Hamon Center for Therapeutic Oncology Research, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) contributes to tumor cell survival, immune evasion, migration, invasion, and therapy resistance. Across human cancer, tumors that are high grade, poorly differentiated, and have undergone EMT carry a worse prognosis with a higher likelihood of metastasis. AXL, a receptor tyrosine kinase, drives EMT and is implicated in tumor progression, metastasis, and therapy resistance in multiple cancer types including pancreatic cancer and breast cancer. TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) is central to AXL-driven EMT, yet the mechanism of how TBK1 induces EMT remains unclear. Here, we report that AXL activation stimulates TBK1 binding and phosphorylation of AKT serine/threonine kinase 3 (AKT3). TBK1 activation of AKT3 drives binding to the EMT transcription factors Snail and Slug, protection of Snail/Slug from proteasomal degradation and translocation of the complex to the nucleus. We show that nuclear translocation of AKT3 is required for AXL-driven EMT and metastasis. Congruently, nuclear AKT3 expression correlates with worse outcome in aggressive breast cancer. These results suggest that AKT3 nuclear activity is an important feature of AXL-driven epithelial plasticity and that selective AKT3 inhibition represents a novel therapeutic avenue for treating aggressive cancer.
Chairperson: James Lorens, CCBIO
- Link to join the webinar:
https://uib.zoom.us/j/61399295455?pwd=a3BHR2VBQUxjOFdLckRZbHpyL3I2UT09
- Discussion after the talk: If you have a question and would like to be unmuted to speak, please click the "Raise Hand" icon at the bottom of the screen. Make sure your microphone works.
- Zoom account: Advisable to create in advance.
