Cell News—Cytoskeleton regulator affects nucleus shape in migrating and invading cells

Cells with nuclei in blue, mitochondria in green, and the actin cytoskeleton in red. NICHD image.

Cells with nuclei in blue, mitochondria in green, and the actin cytoskeleton in red. NICHD image.

Metastasis is a worst-case scenario for someone with cancer, and certain cellular processes make cancer cells more likely to metastasize. In migrating cells the protein fascin regulates F-actin, a structural component that helps cells keep their shape and move. Fascin expression is correlated with increased metastatic potential in cancer. Asier Jayo and colleagues in ASCB member Maddy Parson’s lab at King’s College London published a new study that identifies a new binding partner for fascin in a range of cell types,  the nuclear envelope protein nesprin-2. The interaction occurs independently of fascin-actin binding. They found that disrupting the interaction between fascin and nesprin-2 reduces the ability of cells to deform their nuclei and invade through confined spaces.

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