Historically, immunoglobulin (Ig) has been known as an antibody and is expressed only in B lineage cells; importantly, Ig light chains are conjugated to heavy chains to form intact Igs. However, in this study, we found a free Igκ light chain with a unique Vκ4-1/Jκ3 rearrangement (Vκ4-1/Jκ3-FLC) that was widely expressed in different non-B lineages and was overexpressed in cancer cells. Further study indicated that Vκ4-1/Jκ3-FLC was hydrophobic, formed obvious insoluble deposits in the extracellular matrix (ECM) and existed in free form. Functional analyses demonstrated that Vκ4-1/Jκ3-FLC promoted the proliferation, migration and metastasis of colon cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, Vκ4-1/Jκ3-FLC bound to integrin β1 and activated the FAK and Src pathways. More importantly, specific antibodies against the variable region of Vκ4-1/Jκ3-FLC significantly inhibited the growth of colon cancer tumors. Our findings suggested that Vκ4-1/Jκ3-FLC is a novel ECM protein and integrin β1 ligand and that it is involved in cancer progression and is a potential therapeutic target in cancer, particularly colon cancer.
Pubmed ID: 35533952 RIS Download
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Cell line HEK293T is a Transformed cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens (Human)
View all literature mentionsCell line Hep-G2 is a Cancer cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens (Human)
View all literature mentionsCell line HT-29 is a Cancer cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens (Human)
View all literature mentionsCell line SW480 is a Cancer cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens (Human)
View all literature mentionsMus musculus with name NU/J from IMSR.
View all literature mentionslaboratory mouse with name BALB/cAnNCrl from MGI.
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