OVOL2 induces autophagy-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition by the ERK1/2 MAPK signaling in lung adenocarcinoma

作者：Yali Wang, Lin Shi, Yuchao He, Wenchen Gong, Yanyan Cui, Ran Zuo, Yu Wang, Yi Luo, Li-Wei Chen, Zhiyong Liu, Peng Chen, Hua Guo · 发表于：iScience · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1016/j.isci.2024.108873 · 被引用次数：5 · 研究领域：Autophagy in Disease and Therapy、Cancer-related molecular mechanisms research

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death worldwide. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays an important role in malignant tumor progression. Recently, accumulating evidence has shown that autophagy is involved in the regulation of EMT-induced migration. Therefore, the exploration of targets to inhibit EMT by targeting autophagy is important. In this study, we found that OVO-like zinc finger 2 (OVOL2) may be a key target for regulating autophagy-induced EMT. Firstly, we found that OVOL2 expression was dramatically downregulated in LUAD. Low expression of OVOL2 is an indicator of poor prognosis in LUAD. In vitro experiments have shown that downregulation of OVOL2 expression induces EMT, thereby promoting malignant biological behavior, such as proliferation, migration, and invasion of LUAD cells. Interestingly, autophagy is a key step in regulating OVOL2 and inducing EMT. Furthermore, OVOL2 regulates autophagy through the MAPK signaling pathway, ultimately inhibiting the malignant progression of LUAD.