Sumoylation of Flotillin-1 promotes EMT in metastatic prostate cancer by suppressing Snail degradation

Flotillin-1 (Flot-1) has been shown to regulate cancer progression, but the regulatory role of post-translational modifications of Flot-1 on cancers remains elusive. Herein, we show that up-regulated E2 conjugating enzyme UBC9 sumoylates Flot-1 at Lys-51 and Lys-195 with small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO)-2/3 modification in metastatic prostate cancer. Mitogen induced the sumoylation and nuclear translocation of Flot-1. The nuclear-targeted Flot-1 physically interacted with Snail, and inhibited Snail degradation through the proteasome in a sumoylation-dependent manner, thereby promoting epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Sumoylation of Flot-1 by up-regulated UBC9 in human metastatic prostate cancer tissues and prostate cancer cells with high metastatic potential positively correlated with the stabilization of Snail and the induction of Snail-mediated EMT genes in the metastatic prostate cancer. Our study reveals a new mechanism of sumoylated Flot-1-mediating Snail stabilization, and identifies a novel sumoylated Flot-1-Snail signaling axis in EMT of metastatic prostate cancer.