Regulation of epithelial to mesenchymal transition: CK2β on stage

Protein kinase CK2 participates in the regulation of fundamental cellular processes. Among these processes, cell polarity and cell morphology are controlled by this enzyme probably through the phosphorylation of key proteins. To further study the involvement of CK2 in these processes, we showed that in epithelial cells, the regulatory CK2β subunit was required for LKB1-dependent polarization and cell adhesion. Moreover, CK2β silencing in MCF10A mammary epithelial cells triggered changes in their morphology correlated with the acquisition of mesenchymal phenotype, which were reminiscent to TGFβ-induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal-transition (EMT). TGFβ has emerged as a major inducer of EMT both in vitro and in vivo. We found that among the TGFβ isoforms, TGFβ2 expression was strongly induced in CK2β-knockdown cells. However, the EMT phenotype induced in response to CK2β silencing was not abolished by blocking the TGFβ signaling pathway at TGFβ receptor level, suggesting that alternative pathways might be involved. Given the importance of CK2 in tumorigenesis, a dysregulation of CK2β expression might contribute to EMT induction during cancer progression.