Inactivation of homeodomain‐interacting protein kinase 2 promotes oral squamous cell carcinoma metastasis through inhibition of P53‐dependent E‐cadherin expression

Homeodomain‐interacting protein kinase 2 (HIPK2), a well‐known tumor suppressor, shows contradictory expression patterns in different cancers. This study was undertaken to clarify HIPK2 expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and to reveal the potential mechanism of HIPK2 involvement in OSCC metastasis. Two hundred and four OSCC tissues, together with paired adjacent normal epithelia, dysplastic epithelia, and lymph node metastasis specimens, were collected to profile HIPK2 expression by immunohistochemical staining. High throughput RNA‐sequencing was used to detect the dysregulated signaling pathways in HIPK2‐deficient OSCC cells. Transwell assay and lymphatic metastatic orthotopic mouse model assay were undertaken to identify the effect of HIPK2 on tumor invasion. Western blotting and luciferase reporter assay were used to examine the HIPK2/P53/E‐cadherin axis in OSCC. Nuclear delocalization of HIPK2 was observed during oral epithelial cancerization progression and was associated with cervical lymph node metastasis and poor outcome. Depletion of HIPK2 promoted tumor cell invasion in vitro and facilitated cervical lymph node metastasis in vivo. According to mRNA‐sequencing, pathways closely related to tumor invasion were notably activated. Homeodomain‐interacting protein kinase 2 was found to trigger E‐cadherin expression by mediating P53, which directly targets the CDH1 (coding E‐cadherin) promoter. Restoring P53 expression rescued the E‐cadherin suppression induced by HIPK2 deficiency, whereas rescued cytoplasmic HIPK2 expression had no influence on the expression of E‐cadherin and cell mobility. Together, nuclear delocalization of HIPK2 might serve as a valuable negative biomarker for poor prognosis of OSCC and lymph node metastasis. The depletion of HIPK2 expression promoted OSCC metastasis by suppressing the P53/E‐cadherin axis, which might be a promising target for anticancer therapies.