Cold-inducible RNA-binding protein promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition by activating ERK and p38 pathways

Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), a potent inducer of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), upregulates the cold-inducible RNA-binding protein (CIRP). The link between CIRP and EMT, however, remains unknown. To determine the role of CIRP in EMT, we performed CIRP knockdown and overexpression experiments in in vitro TGF-β1-induced EMT models. We found that CIRP overexpression promoted the downregulation of epithelial markers and the upregulation of mesenchymal markers after TGF-β1 treatment for EMT induction. It also promoted cell migration and invasion, key features of EMT. In contrast, CIRP knockdown inhibited the downregulation of epithelial markers and the upregulation of mesenchymal markers after TGF-β1 treatment for EMT induction. In addition, it also inhibited cell migration and invasion. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the RNA-recognition motif in CIRP is essential for the role of CIRP in EMT. At the downstream level, CIRP knockdown downregulated Snail, key transcriptional regulator of EMT, while CIRP overexpression upregulated it. We found out that the link between CIRP and Snail is mediated by ERK and p38 pathways. EMT is a critical component of carcinoma metastasis and invasion. As demonstrated in this study, the biological role of CIRP in EMT may explain why CIRP overexpression has been associated with a bad prognosis in cancer patients.