Armadillo repeat gene deleted in velo-cardio-facial syndrome (ARVCF) is a member of the p120 catenin (p120ctn) family; it contains nine central Armadillo repeats and binds to the juxtamembrane domain of E-cadherin. We used immunohistochemistry to measure ARVCF expression in 121 patients with NSCLC and western blotting to examine differences in ARVCF expression between lung cancer and adjacent normal lung tissues. We interfered with ARVCF expression in two lung cancer cell lines and measured its effects on invasion and proliferation. ARVCF expression correlated with the malignant phenotype and poor prognosis. We also observed ARVCF-dependent changes in small GTPase (mainly RhoA) activity in lung cancer cells. We confirmed that ARVCF plays an important role in the malignant phenotype.
Keywords: ARVCF; NSCLC; RhoA; invasion; p120ctn.
© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.