Autophagy induction impairs migration and invasion by reversing EMT in glioblastoma cells

Cell migration and invasion are highly regulated processes involved in both physiological and pathological conditions. Here we show that autophagy modulation regulates the migration and invasion capabilities of glioblastoma (GBM) cells. We observed that during autophagy occurrence, obtained by nutrient deprivation or by pharmacological inhibition of the mTOR complexes, GBM migration and chemokine-mediated invasion were both impaired. We also observed that SNAIL and SLUG, two master regulators of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT process), were down-regulated upon autophagy stimulation and, as a consequence, we found a transcriptional and translational up-regulation of N- and R-cadherins.

Source: Molecular Oncology - May 12, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Myriam Catalano, Giuseppina D’Alessandro, Francesca Lepore, Marco Corazzari, Sara Caldarola, Cristina Valacca, Fiorella Faienza, Vincenzo Esposito, Cristina Limatola, Francesco Cecconi, Sabrina Di Bartolomeo Source Type: research