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Merlin Is a Negative Regulator of Human Melanoma Growth

Merlin is encoded by the neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) gene and is a member of the Band 4.1 protein family. This protein acts as a linker that connects cell surface proteins to the actin cytoskeleton. Defects caused by mutations of the NF2 gene give rise to NF2 disease, which is generally character...

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Autores principales: Murray, Lucas B., Lau, Ying-Ka Ingar, Yu, Qin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3422319/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22912849
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0043295
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author Murray, Lucas B.
Lau, Ying-Ka Ingar
Yu, Qin
author_facet Murray, Lucas B.
Lau, Ying-Ka Ingar
Yu, Qin
author_sort Murray, Lucas B.
collection PubMed
description Merlin is encoded by the neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) gene and is a member of the Band 4.1 protein family. This protein acts as a linker that connects cell surface proteins to the actin cytoskeleton. Defects caused by mutations of the NF2 gene give rise to NF2 disease, which is generally characterized by the formation of bilateral vestibular schwannomas and, to a lesser extent, meningiomas and ependymomas. In addition to these tumor types, NF2 is mutated and/or merlin expression is reduced or lost in numerous non-NF2 associated tumors, including melanoma. However, the role of merlin in human melanoma growth and the mechanism underlying its effect are currently unknown. In the present study, we show that merlin knockdown enhances melanoma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro and that decreased merlin expression promotes subcutaneous melanoma growth in immunocompromised mice. Concordantly, we find that increased expression of merlin in a metastatic melanoma cell line reduced their in vitro migration and proliferation, and diminished their ability to grow in an anchorage independent manner. Increased merlin expression also inhibits in vivo growth of these melanoma cells. Lastly, we demonstrate that higher merlin levels in human melanoma cells promote the H(2)O(2)-induced activation of MST1/2 Ser/Thr kinases, which are known tumor suppressors in the Hippo signaling pathway. Taken together, these results provide for the first time evidence that merlin negatively regulates human melanoma growth, and that loss of merlin, or impaired merlin function, results in an opposite effect. In addition, we show that increased merlin expression leads to enhanced activation of the MTS1/2 kinases, implying the potential roles of MST1/2 in mediating the anti-melanoma effects of merlin.
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spelling pubmed-34223192012-08-21 Merlin Is a Negative Regulator of Human Melanoma Growth Murray, Lucas B. Lau, Ying-Ka Ingar Yu, Qin PLoS One Research Article Merlin is encoded by the neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) gene and is a member of the Band 4.1 protein family. This protein acts as a linker that connects cell surface proteins to the actin cytoskeleton. Defects caused by mutations of the NF2 gene give rise to NF2 disease, which is generally characterized by the formation of bilateral vestibular schwannomas and, to a lesser extent, meningiomas and ependymomas. In addition to these tumor types, NF2 is mutated and/or merlin expression is reduced or lost in numerous non-NF2 associated tumors, including melanoma. However, the role of merlin in human melanoma growth and the mechanism underlying its effect are currently unknown. In the present study, we show that merlin knockdown enhances melanoma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro and that decreased merlin expression promotes subcutaneous melanoma growth in immunocompromised mice. Concordantly, we find that increased expression of merlin in a metastatic melanoma cell line reduced their in vitro migration and proliferation, and diminished their ability to grow in an anchorage independent manner. Increased merlin expression also inhibits in vivo growth of these melanoma cells. Lastly, we demonstrate that higher merlin levels in human melanoma cells promote the H(2)O(2)-induced activation of MST1/2 Ser/Thr kinases, which are known tumor suppressors in the Hippo signaling pathway. Taken together, these results provide for the first time evidence that merlin negatively regulates human melanoma growth, and that loss of merlin, or impaired merlin function, results in an opposite effect. In addition, we show that increased merlin expression leads to enhanced activation of the MTS1/2 kinases, implying the potential roles of MST1/2 in mediating the anti-melanoma effects of merlin. Public Library of Science 2012-08-17 /pmc/articles/PMC3422319/ /pubmed/22912849 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0043295 Text en © 2012 Murray et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Murray, Lucas B.
Lau, Ying-Ka Ingar
Yu, Qin
Merlin Is a Negative Regulator of Human Melanoma Growth
title Merlin Is a Negative Regulator of Human Melanoma Growth
title_full Merlin Is a Negative Regulator of Human Melanoma Growth
title_fullStr Merlin Is a Negative Regulator of Human Melanoma Growth
title_full_unstemmed Merlin Is a Negative Regulator of Human Melanoma Growth
title_short Merlin Is a Negative Regulator of Human Melanoma Growth
title_sort merlin is a negative regulator of human melanoma growth
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3422319/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22912849
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0043295
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