(EN) An important study led by Prof. Xiaoqiang Yao, Professor of the School of Biomedical Sciences (SBS), and Prof. Liwen Jiang, Professor of the School of Life Science, CUHK has uncovered a novel factor that regulates F-actin dynamics and therefore controlling ovarian cancer metastasis. The findings have been published in Nature Communications, a world-renowned international scientific journal, which can be viewed HERE.

The research team composed of Professor Xiaoqiang Yao as PI, Prof. Liwen Jiang as Co-I, and four former Ph.D students/postdoctoral fellows in Prof. Yao’s group (Dr. Zhaoyue Meng, Dr. Zhichao Li, Dr. Mingxu Xie and Dr. Hongyan Yu).

In this study, Prof. Yao’s group demonstrate the novel function of a protein named TM9SF4 in regulating actin dynamics and controlling cancer cell motility and metastasis. They found that an N-terminal fragment (NTF) cleaved from TM9SF4 can directly bind to F-actin to induce actin oxidation at Cys374, consequently enhancing cofilin-mediated F-actin disassembly. Knockdown of TM9SF4 reduces cell migration and invasion in ovarian cancer cells. In addition, in vivo, knockdown of TM9SF4 completely abolishes the tumor growth and metastasis in athymic nude mice. These data provide novel mechanistic insights into TM9SF4-mediated regulation of actin dynamics in ovarian cancer cells and highlight TM9SF4 as an attractive molecular target for ovarian cancer therapy.