A JUN N-terminal kinase inhibitor induces ectodomain shedding of the cancer-associated membrane protease Prss14/epithin via protein kinase CβII.

Serine protease 14 (Prss14)/epithin is a transmembrane serine protease that plays essential roles in tumor progression and metastasis and therefore represents a promising target for managing cancer. Prss14/epithin shedding may underlie its activity in cancer and may worsen outcomes; accordingly, a detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms in Prss14/epithin shedding may inform the design of future cancer therapies. On the basis of our previous observation that an activator of protein kinase C (PKC), phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), induces Prss14/epithin shedding, here we further investigated the intracellular signaling pathway involved in this process. While using mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitors to investigate possible effectors of downstream PKC signaling, we unexpectedly found that an inhibitor of JUN N-terminal kinase (JNK), SP600125, induces Prss14/epithin shedding, even in the absence of PMA. SP600125-induced shedding, like that stimulated by PMA, was mediated by tumor necrosis factor-α-converting enzyme (TACE). In contrast, a JNK activator, anisomycin, partially abolished the effects of SP600125 on Prss14/epithin shedding. Moreover, results from loss-of-function experiments with specific inhibitors, short hairpin RNA-mediated knockdown, and overexpression of dominant-negative PKCβII variants indicated that PKCβII is a major player in both JNK inhibition- and PMA-mediated Prss14/epithin shedding. SP600125 increased phosphorylation of PKCβII and TACE and induced their translocation into the plasma membrane. Finally, in vitro cell invasion experiments and bioinformatics analysis of data in the TCGA breast cancer database revealed that JNK and PKCβII both are important for Prss14/epithin-mediated cancer progression. These results provide important information regarding strategies against tumor metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]