1. Academic Validation
  2. Nucleostemin interacts with SMAD3 promoting tumor metastasis

Nucleostemin interacts with SMAD3 promoting tumor metastasis

  • Exp Cell Res. 2025 Jan 15;444(2):114362. doi: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2024.114362.
Xuling Sun 1 Jiageng He 2 Yujiang Li 2 Zhiqiang Chu 2 Lei Zhu 2 Hui Zhang 3 Xiangwei Wu 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang, 832000, PR China. Electronic address: tjhsxl@126.com.
  • 2 Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang, 832000, PR China.
  • 3 State International Joint Research Center for Animal Health Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang, 832000, PR China.
  • 4 Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang, 832000, PR China.
Abstract

SMAD3 plays a crucial role in TGF-β, regulating various normal developmental mechanisms and disease pathogenesis. Here, we report that SMAD3 directly interacts with Nucleostemin (NS), leading to nuclear translocation and affecting SMAD3 activity after TGF-β1 stimulation. Moreover, NS acts as a competitor, preventing PPM1A from recognizing and dephosphorylating SMAD3. Experimental investigations have demonstrated that NS significantly enhances cellular migration and invasion by promoting the EMT mechanism in vitro. NS knockdown notably suppresses tumor metastasis in the lungs and liver in vivo. Importantly, NS expression is significantly elevated in numerous human malignancies, correlating with a poorer prognosis. The collective evidence from these studies suggests that NS exhibits oncogenic characteristics, supporting further exploration of NS as a potential target for tumor treatment.

Keywords

Metastasis; Nucleostemin; SMAD3; Tumor.

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