CIP4 Targeted to Recruit GTP-Cdc42 Involving in Invadopodia Formation Through NF-κB Signaling Pathway Promotes Invasion and Metastasis of Colorectal Cancer

Abstract Background CIP4 (Cdc42-interacting protein 4), a member of the F-BAR family which plays an important role in regulating cell membrane and actin, has been reported to interact with Cdc42 and closely associated with tumor invadopodia formation. However, the specific mechanism of the interaction between CIP4 and Cdc42 as well as the downstream signaling pathway in response in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains unknown, which is worth exploring for its impact on tumor infiltration and metastasis. Methods Immunohistochemistry and western blot analyses were performed to detect the expression of CIP4 and Cdc42. Their relationship with CRC clinicopathological characteristics was further analyzed. Wound-healing, transwell migration and invasion assays tested the effect of CIP4 on cells migration and invasion ability in vitro, and the orthotopic xenograft colorectal cancer mouse mode evaluated the tumor metastasis in vivo. The invadopodia formation and function were assessed by immunofluorescence, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and matrix degradation assay. The interaction between CIP4 and Cdc42 was confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) and GST-Pull down assays. Immunofluorescence was used to observed the colocalization of CIP4, GTP-Cdc42 and invadopodia. The related downstream signaling pathway was investigated by western blot and immunofluorescence. Results CIP4 expression was significantly higher in human colorectal cancer tissues and correlated with the CRC infiltrating depth and metastasis as well as the lower survival rate in patients. In cultured CRC cells, knockdown of CIP4 inhibited cell migration and invasion ability in vitro and the tumor metastasis in vivo, while overexpression of CIP4 confirmed the opposite situation by promoting invadopodia formation and matrix degradation ability. In addition, we identified GTP-Cdc42 as a directly interactive protein of CIP4, which was upregulated and recruited by CIP4 to participate in this process. Furthermore, activated NF-κB signaling pathway was found in CIP4 overexpression CRC cells contributing to invadopodia formation while inhibition of either CIP4 or Cdc42 led to suppression of NF-κB pathway resulted in decrease quantity of invadopodia. Conclusion Our findings suggested that CIP4 targets to recruit GTP-Cdc42 and directly combines with it to accelerate invadopodia formation and function by activating NF-κB signaling pathway, thus promoting CRC infiltration and metastasis.