Tumoral Neuroligin 1 Promotes Cancer-Nerve Interactions and Synergizes with the Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor

Overview

Journal Cells

Publisher MDPI

Specialties Biochemistry
Biophysics
Cell Biology
Molecular Biology

Date 2022 Jan 21

PMID 35053395

Authors

Laura Bizzozero

Margherita Pergolizzi

Davide Pascal

Elena Maldi

Giulia Villari

Jessica Erriquez

Marco Volante

Guido Serini

Caterina Marchio

Federico Bussolino

Marco Arese

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Many nervous proteins are expressed in cancer cells. In this report, we asked whether the synaptic protein neuroligin 1 (NLGN1) was expressed by prostatic and pancreatic carcinomas; in addition, given the tendency of these tumors to interact with nerves, we asked whether NLGN1 played a role in this process. Through immunohistochemistry on human tissue microarrays, we showed that NLGN1 is expressed by prostatic and pancreatic cancer tissues in discrete stages and tumor districts. Next, we performed in vitro and in vivo assays, demonstrating that NLGN1 promotes cancer cell invasion and migration along nerves. Because of the established role of the neurotrophic factor glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) in tumor-nerve interactions, we assessed a potential NLGN1-GDNF cooperation. We found that blocking GDNF activity with a specific antibody completely inhibited NLGN1-induced in vitro cancer cell invasion of nerves. Finally, we demonstrated that, in the presence of NLGN1, GDNF markedly activates cofilin, a cytoskeletal regulatory protein, altering filopodia dynamics. In conclusion, our data further prove the existence of a molecular and functional cross-talk between the nervous system and cancer cells. NLGN1 was shown here to function along one of the most represented neurotrophic factors in the nerve microenvironment, possibly opening new therapeutic avenues.

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