Loss of MTSS1 results in increased metastatic potential in pancreatic cancer

// Ann E. Zeleniak 1, 2 , Wei Huang 2, 3 , Mary K. Brinkman 2, 3 , Melissa L. Fishel 4, 5, 6 , Reginald Hill 2, 3 1 Integrated Biomedical Sciences Program, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, USA 2 Harper Cancer Research Institute, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, USA 3 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, USA 4 Indiana University School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA 5 Indiana University School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Wells Center for Pediatric Research, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA 6 Pancreatic Cancer Signature Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Correspondence to: Reginald Hill, email: rhill3@nd.edu Keywords: pancreatic cancer, metastasis, MTSS1, inflammation, tumor microenvironment Received: September 18, 2016      Accepted: January 19, 2017      Published: January 27, 2017 ABSTRACT Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a 5-year survival rate of 7%. This dismal prognosis is largely due to the inability to diagnose the disease before metastasis occurs. Tumor cell dissemination occurs early in PDAC. While it is known that inflammation facilitates this process, the underlying mechanisms responsible for this progression have not been fully characterized. Here, we functionally test the role of metastasis suppressor 1 (MTSS1) in PDAC. Despite evidence showing that MTSS1 could be important for regulating metastasis in many different cancers, its function in PDAC has not been studied. Here, we show that loss of MTSS1 leads to increased invasion and migration in PDAC cell lines. Moreover, PDAC cells treated with cancer-associated fibroblast-conditioned media also have increased metastatic potential, which is augmented by loss of MTSS1. Finally, overexpression of MTSS1 in PDAC cell lines leads to a loss of migratory potential in vitro and an increase in overall survival in vivo . Collectively, our data provide insight into an important role for MTSS1 in suppressing tumor cell invasion and migration driven by the tumor microenvironment and suggest that therapeutic strategies aimed at increasing MTSS1 levels may effectively slow the development of metastatic lesions, increasing survival of patients with PDAC.