NLK Promotes the Proliferation, Migration, Invasion, and EMT of Bladder Cancer Cells by Regulating Paxillin
Keywords:
Bladder cancer, NLK, otolithiasis, Paxillin, EMTAbstract
Objective: This research was intended to exploring the effect and mechanism of Nemo like kinase (NLK) and paxillin on proliferation, migration, invasion, and epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) of bladder cancer cells, and providing theoretical basis for basic research, clinical prevention and treatment of bladder cancer. Methods: The expression of NLK in bladder cancer tissue was analyzed by bioinformatics analysis. The proliferation, migration and invasion of bladder cancer cells were detected by EdU staining assay, clone formation assay, and transwell assay. RNA pull down assay was used to detect the interaction between NLK and paxillin in bladder cancer cells. Western blot assay was performed to measure the expressions of NLK, p-paxillin, and EMT-related proteins in bladder cancer cells. Results: NLK and p-paxillin were highly expressed in bladder cancer. NLK interacted with paxillin. NLK silencing inhibited the proliferation, migration, invasion, EMT, and p-paxillin expression of bladder cancer cells. Paxillin overexpression reversed the effect of NLK silencing on proliferation, migration, invasion, EMT, and p-paxillin expression in bladder cancer cells. Conclusion: NLK promotes the proliferation, migration, invasion and EMT of bladder cancer cells by regulating paxillin, providing theoretical basis for basic research, clinical prevention and treatment of bladder cancer.
References
Saginala K, Barsouk A, Aluru JS, et al. Epidemiology of Bladder Cancer. Medical Sciences 2020; 8(1): 15.
Bray F, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, et al. Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians 2018; 68(6): 394-424.
Brott BK, Pinsky BA, Erikson RL. Nlk is a murine protein kinase related to Erk/MAP kinases and localized in the nucleus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 1998; 95(3): 963-968.
Choi KW, Benzer S. Rotation of photoreceptor clusters in the developing Drosophila eye requires the nemo gene. Cell 1994; 78(1): 125-136.
Lv M, Li Y, Tian X, et al. Lentivirus-mediated knockdown of NLK inhibits small-cell lung cancer growth and metastasis. Drug Design, Development and Therapy 2016; 10: 3737-3746.
Li M, Zhang S, Wang Z, et al. Prognostic significance of nemo-like kinase (NLK) expression in patients with gallbladder cancer. Tumor Biology 2013; 34(6): 3995-4000.
Shen N, Duan XH, Wang XL, et al. Effect of NLK on the proliferation and invasion of laryngeal carcinoma cells by regulating CDCP1. European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences 2019; 23(14): 6226-6233.
Zhang W, He J, Du Y, et al. Upregulation of nemo-like kinase is an independent prognostic factor in colorectal cancer. World Journal of Gastroenterology 2015; 21(29): 8836-8847.
Li SZ, Zeng F, Li J, et al. Nemo-like kinase (NLK) primes colorectal cancer progression by releasing the E2F1 complex from HDAC1. Cancer Letters 2018; 431: 43-53.
Zou D, Wang D, Li R, et al. MiR-197 induces Taxol resistance in human ovarian cancer cells by regulating NLK. Tumor Biology 2015; 36(9): 6725-6732.
Lei L, Wang Y, Zheng YW, et al. Overexpression of Nemo-like Kinase Promotes the Proliferation and Invasion of Lung Cancer Cells and Indicates Poor Prognosis. Current Cancer Drug Targets 2019; 19(8): 674-680.
Ishitani T, Ishitani S, Matsumoto K, et al. Nemo-like kinase is involved in NGF-induced neurite outgrowth via phosphorylating MAP1B and paxillin. Journal of Neurochemistry 2009; 111(5): 1104-1118.
Chiu HY, Sun KH, Chen SY, et al. Autocrine CCL2 promotes cell migration and invasion via PKC activation and tyrosine phosphorylation of paxillin in bladder cancer cells. Cytokine 2012; 59(2): 423-432.
Wei YB, Yan PY, Yang XF. The mechanism of tumor microenvironment in the occurrence and development of bladder cancer. Chemistry of Life 2022; 42(9): 1665-1671.
Suwei D, Liang Z, Zhimin L, et al. NLK functions to maintain proliferation and stemness of NSCLC and is a target of metformin. Journal of Hematology & Oncology 2015; 8: 120.
Lamouille S, Xu J, Derynck R. Molecular mechanisms of epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 2014; 15(3): 178-196.
Zhang Y, Weinberg RA. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in cancer: complexity and opportunities. Frontiers of Medicine 2018; 12(4): 361-373.
Chi M, Liu J, Mei C, et al. TEAD4 functions as a prognostic biomarker and triggers EMT via PI3K/AKT pathway in bladder cancer. Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research 2022; 41(1): 175.
Ma X, Hammes SR. Paxillin actions in the nucleus. Steroids 2018; 133: 87-92.
Wen L, Zhang X, Zhang J, et al. Paxillin knockdown suppresses metastasis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in colorectal cancer via the ERK signalling pathway. Oncology Reports 2020; 44(3): 1105-1115.
Hou T, Zhou L, Wang L, et al. Leupaxin Promotes Bladder Cancer Proliferation, Metastasis, and Angiogenesis Through the PI3K/AKT Pathway. Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry 2018; 47(6): 2250-2260.
Monami G, Gonzalez EM, Hellman M, et al. Proepithelin promotes migration and invasion of 5637 bladder cancer cells through the activation of ERK1/2 and the formation of a paxillin/FAK/ERK complex. Cancer Research 2006; 66(14): 7103-7110.
Downloads
Published
Data Availability Statement
The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 The Author(s)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.