DLC1 Suppresses Breast Cancer Bone Metastasis

The skeleton is the most common metastasis site of breast cancer cells and the molecular underpinning of this process is incompletely understood. The tumor suppressor gene deleted in liver cancer-1 (DLC1) encodes a multi-domain protein including a RhoGTPase activating protein (RhoGAP) domain and has been reported to suppress the lung colonization of breast cancer cells. However, the role of DLC1 in breast cancer bone metastasis and the importance of RhoGAP-dependent and -independent pathways in this process remain unclear. Here, we showed that DLC1 silencing is linked to enhanced bone-tropism of breast cancer cell lines and poor prognosis of clinical samples. In the study presented here, DLC1 was overexpressed in the SCP2 breast cancer cells, and the control SCP2 and overexpression cells were treated with TGFbeta. Microarray profiling of mRNA levels was performed in the control and overexpression cells with or without TGFbeta treatment.