Final Report Summary - CANCER SIGNALOSOMES (Spatially and temporally regulated membrane complexes in cancer cell invasion and cytokinesis)
Cancer is a major health problem worldwide and most deaths are associated to metastasis, which remains essentially incurable with conventional medicine. Therefore, identifying the mechanisms of cancer metastasis will offer novel therapeutic opportunities. Metastasis begins when cancer cells detach from the epithelium and start migrating. The cell surface adhesion receptors integrins regulate this initial process, and thus their inappropriate activation is associated with poor prognosis. In this ERC project, Cancer signalosomes, we have used several novel and cutting edge approaches to analyse the functional complexes recruited to integrins in cancer cells and the pathways involved in integrin regulation. Our research in this project has identified several integrin binding partners as key players in cell motility and metastasis. In addition we have demonstrated that cell adhesion is critically important for normal cell division and the maintenance of genome integrity. In summary, we have used innovative, modern and even unconventional techniques (novel RNAi and cell arrays detecting integrin activity and complex cell fractionation combined with proteomics) to unravel new integrin functions. We have identified several novel molecular interactions involved in the regulation of integrin function in cells. Furthermore, we have been able to identify a clinically relevant role for many of these interactions in human cancer.