HN1 negatively influences the β-catenin/E-cadherin interaction, and contributes to migration in prostate cells

Previously, it has been reported that HN1 is involved in cytoplasmic retention and degradation of androgen receptor in an AKT dependent manner. As HN1 is a hormone inducible gene, and has been shown that it is upregulated in various cancers, we studied the importance of HN1 function in β-catenin signaling in prostate cancer cell line, PC-3 and mammary cancer cell line MDA-MB231. Here, we demonstrated that HN1 physically associates with GSK3β/β-catenin destruction complex and abundantly localizes to cytoplasm, especially when the GSK3β is phosphorylated on S9 residue. Further, ectopic HN1 expression results an increase in the β-catenin degradation leading to loss of E-cadherin interaction, concurrently contributing to actin re-organization, colony formation and migration in cancer cell lines. Thus, we report that HN1 is an essential factor for β-catenin turnover and signaling, augments cell growth and migration in prostate cancer cells.