Inhibition of Tumor Cell Migration through Slit/Robo/TUBB3 Pathway

Date

Authors

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

Description

Studies have shown that the Slit-Robo signaling pathway is important in guiding neural and non-neural cell migration through attraction and repulsion. In addition, Slit and Robo play important roles in tumorigenesis, cancer progression, and metastasis. Specifically, Robo1 binds to a tubulin protein known as TUBB3. The purpose of this research is to investigate the involvement of Slit and Robo signaling in glioblastoma progression. Though the mechanisms have yet to be fully explored, a connection between the presence of the Slit protein and the rate of cancer cell invasion, specifically glioblastoma, may exist, which can lead to a better understanding of the Slit/Robo/TUBB3 pathway and the promising development of new drugs to target specific cancers. Here, the effects of Slit2 was investigated for human embryonic kidney (HEK) and glioblastoma multiforme (T98G) cells. HEK cells showed no difference with the presence of Slit2 medium in the wound healing assays, but interestingly, Slit2 instead promoted migration in T98G cells. On the other hand, Taxol, a drug that stabilizes microtubules, may play a role in inhibiting cell migration. From the Western blot and immunoprecipitation, it suggests that a connection exists between Robo1-TUBB3 and Slit2 regulation of this interaction.

Keywords

neuroscience; SLIT; ROBO; TUBB3; glioblastoma; tumorigenesis; tumor cell migration; wound healing assay; taxol; DMSO; T98G

Citation

DOI