Roles of the HOX Proteins in Cancer Invasion and Metastasis

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide, right after cardiovascular diseases, and the invasion and metastatization correspond to the foremost cause of cancer-related deaths. Here, we reviewed the state of the art regarding the importance of HOX transcription factors in these last steps of cancer progression and described five of their complex mechanisms of regulation, including the miRs and lncRNAs interference. This information highlights the importance of HOX in the suppression and induction of disease advancement and point out the potential of HOX products as therapeutic targets for diverse cancer types. ABSTRACT: Invasion and metastasis correspond to the foremost cause of cancer-related death, and the molecular networks behind these two processes are extremely complex and dependent on the intra- and extracellular conditions along with the prime of the premetastatic niche. Currently, several studies suggest an association between the levels of HOX genes expression and cancer cell invasion and metastasis, which favour the formation of novel tumour masses. The deregulation of HOX genes by HMGA2/TET1 signalling and the regulatory effect of noncoding RNAs generated by the HOX loci can also promote invasion and metastasis, interfering with the expression of HOX genes or other genes relevant to these processes. In this review, we present five molecular mechanisms of HOX deregulation by which the HOX clusters products may affect invasion and metastatic processes in solid tumours.