Spi-B-mediated silencing of Claudin-2 promotes early dissemination of lung cancer cells from primary tumors

Dissociation from epithelial sheets and invasion through the surrounding stroma are critical early events during epithelial cancer metastasis. Here we find that a lymphocyte lineage-restricted transcription factor, Spi-B, is frequently expressed in human lung cancer tissues. The Spi-B-expressing cancer cells coexpressed Vimentin but repressed E-cadherin and exhibited invasive behavior. Increased Spi-B expression was associated with tumor grade, lymphatic metastasis and short overall survival. Mechanistically, Spi-B disrupted intercellular junctions and enhanced invasiveness by reconfiguring the chromatin structure of the tight junction gene Claudin-2 (CLDN2) and repressing its transcription. These data suggest that Spi-B participates in mesenchymal invasion, linking epithelial cancer metastasis with a lymphatic transcriptional program.

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