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Aspartyl Aminopeptidase Suppresses Proliferation, Invasion, and Stemness of Breast Cancer Cells via Targeting CD44
Author(s) -
Geng Nanxi,
Zhang Wenyu,
Li Yang,
Li Feng
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the anatomical record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.678
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1932-8494
pISSN - 1932-8486
DOI - 10.1002/ar.24206
Subject(s) - cd44 , breast cancer , cancer research , cancer , gene knockdown , cancer cell , biology , aminopeptidase , medicine , cell , apoptosis , biochemistry , leucine , amino acid
Although involved in diverse cancer processes, the function of aspartyl aminopeptidase (DNPEP) in breast cancer remains elusive. Here, we reported that DNPEP is significantly downregulated in breast cancer tissues. Overexpression of DNPEP resulted in decreased breast cancer cells proliferation, migration, and invasion, while DNPEP knockdown had the opposite effect. Interestingly, we showed that the reduced DNPEP levels were correlated with the elevated cluster of differentiation 44 (CD44) levels in breast cancer. DNPEP promoted CD44 ubiquitin‐proteasome‐independent degradation, which is dependent on the hydrolase activity of DNPEP. Ectopic DNPEP expression significantly suppressed the stemness properties of breast cancer cells. These results shed light on the prospect of DNPEP in manipulating breast cancer progression. Anat Rec, 302:2178–2185, 2019. © 2019 American Association for Anatomy