Phosphorylation of nucleolin is indispensable to its involvement in the proliferation and migration of non-small cell lung cancer cells.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the mostly deadly malignancies in the world. Nucleolin is a multifunctional protein that mainly regulates ribosome biogenesis but also has other functions including modulating the transcription of mRNAs and repressing RNA polymerase II. Nucleolin is overexpressed in various cancer cells, including NSCLC cells. It can confer resistance to apoptosis and promote cell migration and blood vessel formation by directly taking part in various tumor signal transduction pathways. The activities of nucleolin are regulated mainly by intracellular localization and post-translational modifications, including phosphorylation, glycosylation, methylation, and ADP-ribosylation. Phosphorylation of nucleolin (P-nucleolin) in NSCLC cells is still not well characterized. In the present study, the levels of nucleolin and P-nucleolin were examined in lung tissue and cells and it was demonstrated that levels of the two forms of nucleolin were significantly increased in NSCLC compared with non-cancerous tissues and cells. In addition, it was demonstrated that high expression levels of nucleolin and P-nucleolin were significantly associated with poor overall survival of NSCLC patients. Doxorubicin (DOX) is a type of anthracycline that has been used in the treatment of various types of cancer, including NSCLC. Upregulation of nucleolin through exogenous expression of nucleolin promoted A549 cell proliferation and migration, while downregulation of nucleolin through expression of small interfering RNA-nucleolin attenuated A549 cell proliferation and migration. Following stimulation with DOX, A549 cell proliferation and migration decreased and the expression of P-nucleolin also decreased. In order to investigate whether P-nucleolin is indispensable to the proliferation and migration of NSCLC cells, a plasmid encoding mutant nucleolin, in which the phosphorylation site at threonine-76 was mutated to alanine, was constructed. Compared with the A549 cells transfected with wild-type nucleolin, P-nucleolin expression and cell proliferation and migration were significantly decreased in A549 cells transfected with mutant nucleolin. These results indicate that targeting P-nucleolin may be a promising strategy for treating NSCLC patients.