title: LIFR is a breast cancer metastasis suppressor upstream of the Hippo-YAP pathway and a prognostic marker.
abstract: There is a pressing need to identify prognostic markers of metastatic disease and targets for treatment. Combining high-throughput RNA sequencing, functional characterization, mechanistic studies and clinical validation, we identify leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR) as a breast cancer metastasis suppressor downstream of the microRNA miR-9 and upstream of Hippo signaling. Restoring LIFR expression in highly malignant tumor cells suppresses metastasis by triggering a Hippo kinase cascade that leads to phosphorylation, cytoplasmic retention and functional inactivation of the transcriptional coactivator YES-associated protein (YAP). Conversely, loss of LIFR in nonmetastatic breast cancer cells induces migration, invasion and metastatic colonization through activation of YAP. LIFR is downregulated in human breast carcinomas and inversely correlates with metastasis. Notably, in approximately 1,000 nonmetastatic breast tumors, LIFR expression status correlated with metastasis-free, recurrence-free and overall survival outcomes in the patients. These findings identify LIFR as a metastasis suppressor that functions through the Hippo-YAP pathway and has significant prognostic power.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Dahu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yutong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Yongkun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Peijing
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Abdol Hossein
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Rezaeian
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Teruya-Feldstein
authors.forename: Sumeet
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Hui-Kuan
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Mien-Chie
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002450:Cell Communication; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005260:Female; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006801:Humans; D053680:Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Receptor alpha Subunit / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D016513:Mice, SCID; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000235:genetics; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011379:Prognosis; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000091102:YAP-Signaling Proteins
chemical_list: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C507840:LIFR protein, human; D053680:Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Receptor alpha Subunit; C541874:MIRN92 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D000091102:YAP-Signaling Proteins; C088374:YAP1 protein, human; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases