Abstract
Tumour metastasis, the spread of cancer cells from the original tumour site followed by growth of secondary tumours at distant organs, is the primary cause of cancer-related deaths and remains poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that inhibition of CDK4/6 blocks breast tumour metastasis in the triple-negative breast cancer model, without affecting tumour growth. Mechanistically, we identify a deubiquitinase, DUB3, as a target of CDK4/6; CDK4/6-mediated activation of DUB3 is essential to deubiquitinate and stabilize SNAIL1, a key factor promoting epithelial-mesenchymal transition and breast cancer metastasis. Overall, our study establishes the CDK4/6-DUB3 axis as an important regulatory mechanism of breast cancer metastasis and provides a rationale for potential therapeutic interventions in the treatment of breast cancer metastasis.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 13923 |
Journal | Nature communications |
Volume | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 9 2017 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Chemistry(all)
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
- Physics and Astronomy(all)