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Title: Germline factor DDX 4 functions in blood‐derived cancer cell phenotypes

DDX4 (the human ortholog ofDrosophilaVasa) is anRNAhelicase 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 animalsDDX4/Vasa functions outside of the germline, in a variety of somatic cells in the embryo and in the adult. In this report, we document thatDDX4 is widely expressed in soma‐derived cancer cell lines, including myeloma (IM‐9) and leukemia (THP‐1) cells. In these cells, theDDX4 protein localized to the mitotic spindle, consistent with findings in other somatic cell functions, and its knockout inIM‐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 thatDDX4 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.

 
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NSF-PAR ID:
10027534
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  ;  ;  
Publisher / Repository:
Wiley-Blackwell
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Cancer Science
Volume:
108
Issue:
8
ISSN:
1347-9032
Page Range / eLocation ID:
p. 1612-1619
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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