INCREASED EXPRESSION OF GEF-H1 IN THYROID CANCER PROMOTES PROLIFERATION, MIGRATION AND INVASION

FERNÁNDEZ CHÁVEZ, L.; BERMÚDEZ, V.; ARENAL, V.; ALONSO, E.G.; SCHWEITZER, K.; PICHEL, P.; RECIO, S.; FERRONATO, M.J.; FERMENTO, M.E.; ALONSO, E.N.; CAMPOS HAEDO, M.N.; ROSEMBLIT, C.; FACCHINETTI, M.M.; CURINO, A.C.; COLÓ, G. P.

Mar del Plata

Congreso; Reunión Anual de Sociedades de Biociencia; 2023

RhoGTPases family is involved in several biological process including gene transcription, cell polarity, migration, and invasion. RhoGTPases switch between on and off states and are regulated by several GEFs (activators) and GAPs/RhoGDIs (inactivators). We identified a GEF-H1 as one of the main activators of RhoA. In addition, we have observed that GEF-H1 is involved in cell proliferation, cytoskeleton remodelling, cell migration and invasion, as well as in breast tumor development and metastasis. Rho GTPases contribute to tumor initiation and progression, however, the role of RhoA activators has not yet been study in thyroid cancer (TC). Hence, the aim of this work is to study the role of GEF-H1 in TC development.TC is the most prevalent endocrine neoplasia and the main cause of death is the metastasis. By bioinformatics analysis we found GEF-H1 mRNA and protein overexpressed in tumoral thyroid tissue (TT) compared with non-tumoral tissue (NT). In addition, the expression of GEF-H1 was significantly higher in papillary and anaplastic thyroid carcinomas than in NT (p