Open AccessGermline factor DDX 4 functions in blood‐derived cancer cell phenotypes
Author(s) -
Schudrowitz Natalie,
Takagi Satoshi,
Wessel Gary M.,
Yajima Mamiko
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
cancer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.035
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1349-7006
pISSN - 1347-9032
DOI - 10.1111/cas.13299
Subject(s) - biology , somatic cell , germline , microbiology and biotechnology , cell cycle , mitosis , cancer cell , cancer research , phenotype , genetics , cancer , gene
DDX 4 (the human ortholog of Drosophila Vasa) is an RNA helicase and is present in the germ lines of all metazoans tested. It was historically thought to be expressed specifically in germline, but with additional organisms studied, it is now clear that in some animals DDX 4/Vasa functions outside of the germline, in a variety of somatic cells in the embryo and in the adult. In this report, we document that DDX 4 is widely expressed in soma‐derived cancer cell lines, including myeloma ( IM ‐9) and leukemia ( THP ‐1) cells. In these cells, the DDX 4 protein localized to the mitotic spindle, consistent with findings in other somatic cell functions, and its knockout in IM ‐9 cells compromised cell proliferation and migration activities, and downregulated several cell cycle/oncogene factors such as CyclinB and the transcription factor E2F1. These results suggest that DDX 4 positively regulates cell cycle progression of diverse somatic‐derived blood cancer cells, implying its broad contributions to the cancer cell phenotype and serves as a potential new target for chemotherapy.