TargetRx Atlas

MRNA basic information

  • mRNA ID:ENST00000395915
  • Gene Name:AURKA
  • mRNA database:Ensembl
  • mRNA expression :up-regulated
  • mRNA Method:RT-PCR
  • mRNA Pathway:NA
  • Evidence:predicted
  • (mRNA-drug)

Drug basic information

  • Drug ID:NA
  • Drug Name:NA
  • Drug Method:NA

Disease basic infommation

  • Disease:nasopharyngeal carcinoma
  • Tissue:NPC cell lines, including poorly differentiated NPC cell lines (CNE-2 and SUNE-1) and well differentiated NPC cell lines (CNE-1 and HK-1)

Other information

  • Title:Inhibition of Aurora-A suppresses epithelial-mesenchymal transition and invasion by downregulating MAPK in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells
  • Journal:Carcinogenesis
  • Published:2008
  • PubMed ID:18667445
  • Abstract:Mitotic serine/threonine kinase Aurora-A (Aur-A) plays a critical role in regulating centrosome segregation and spindle assemble. Aur-A overexpression causes excessive centrosome duplication and abnormal spindle structure, leading to tumor malignant progression. Here, we investigated Aur-A expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and the association between Aur-A and NPC invasiveness. We showed that overexpression of Aur-A in tumor tissues was correlated with cranial bone invasion and clinical stage in NPC patients. Suppression of Aur-A by either selective Aurora inhibitory VX-680 or small-interfering RNA caused G(2)/M arrest and apoptotic cell death in NPC CNE-2 cells. Significantly, inhibition of Aur-A suppressed CNE-2 cell invasion and restored membrane expression of epithelial markers, E-cadherin and beta-catenin, suggesting a reversed epithelial-mesenchymal transition process in cancer cells. In addition, we found that Aur-A-regulated epithelial-mesenchymal transition and invasion were mediated by mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphorylation. Moreover, suppression of MAP kinase by small-interfering RNA or its upstream MEK1/2-selective inhibitor U0126 abrogated cell invasion enhanced by Aur-A overexpression. On the other hand, forced overexpression of constitutively active form of MEK1/2, MEK2DD, in CNE-2 cancer cells rescued cell invasive ability suppressed by VX-680-imposed Aur-A inhibition. Our results indicated that Aur-A acted through a downstream MAP kinase pathway to promote epithelial-mesenchymal transition and invasiveness in nasopharyngeal tumorigenesis. Small chemical inhibitor VX-680 may offer as a promising molecular targeting agent in human NPC.