Introduction: Intracranial gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors. Despite advances in medicine, patient outcome did not change significantly over the last century. The invasive behavior of these cells is the main reason for treatment failure. Cancer invasion and cell motility are topics under ongoing intense investigations. However, they are less studied in gliomas and the literature describing the molecular mechanisms which govern glioma cells motility is lagging.
Methods: We have recently reported Down Regulated in Renal cell carcinoma (DRR) as a novel modulator of glioma invasion and migration. Among the interesting findings we observed was the changes seen at the Foal Adhesions (FA) level. Our project was to study and analyse these changes. We also examined these FA changes in relation to DRR expression at the molecular level.
Results: The DRR overexpressing glioma cells, which are also more invasive, had smaller and more numerous mature FA compared to the wild type and the DRR knocked-down cells. A completely opposite phenotype was seen when DRR expression is suppressed. FA markers used in our analysis were Paxillin, Vinculin, Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK), Zyxin. The FA dynamics also changed in relation to DRR expression.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that FA modulation by DRR is a late event at the maturation stage, downstream to FAK activation, which mainly affects the FA-cytoskeleton interaction.
Patient Care: Laboratory investigation testing possible targets which can be a future chemotherapeutic target for brain tumors.
Learning Objectives: We also examined these FA changes in relation to DRR expression at the molecular level.