title: Involvement of microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) in oral cancer cell motility: a novel biological function of MAP2 in non-neuronal cells.
abstract: Microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) has been better known for its well-defined role primarily in neurite outgrowth during neuronal development. However, the biological functions of MAP2 in non-neuronal cells, such as epithelial cells, remain largely unknown. In the present study, we sought to investigate the cellular functions of MAP2 by separately establishing stable expression of two MAP2 isoforms, MAP2A and MAP2C, in oral squamous cell carcinoma, Ca9-22. Ectopic expression of MAP2A or MAP2C results in microtubule bundling predominantly at the cell periphery. Remarkably, overexpression of MAP2A but not MAP2C significantly promotes migration of Ca9-22 cells, whereas knockdown of MAP2A expression by specific siRNA oligos dramatically decreases cell migration of HaCaT, an immortalized keratinocyte cell line with abundant endogenous MAP2A. Furthermore, by immunohistochemical studies, MAP2A was shown to highly and selectively express in invasive oral cancer tissues, consistent with its motility-promoting cellular function revealed through in vitro assays. Thus, our findings have not only identified a novel role of MAP2 in non-neuronal cells, but also provided the first implication of MAP2 in malignant oral cancer tissues.
authors: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors: Shyun-Yeu
authors: SY
authors: Liu
authors: Yi-Ting
authors: YT
authors: Chen
authors: Mei-Yu
authors: MY
authors: Tseng
authors: Chih-Chang
authors: CC
authors: Hung
authors: Wei-Fan
authors: WF
authors: Chiang
authors: Hau-Ren
authors: HR
authors: Chen
authors: Tien-Yu
authors: TY
authors: Shieh
authors: Chung-Ho
authors: CH
authors: Chen
authors: Yuh-Shan
authors: YS
authors: Jou
authors: Jeff Yi-Fu
authors: JY
authors: Chen
mesh_terms: D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement; D006801:Humans; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins