GC‐binding factor 2 interacts with dishevelled and regulates Wnt signaling pathways in human carcinoma cell lines

Abstract

GC-binding factor 2 (GCF2), a transcriptional repressor that decreases the activity of several genes is capable of binding directly to the GC-rich sequence of the EGFR promoter and repressing the transcriptional activity of EGFR. In addition to its function as a transcriptional repressor, GCF2 can directly interact with other proteins such as flightless-1 (Fli-1). Many previous findings pertaining to the function of Fli-1 have suggested a role for fli-1 in providing a direct link between molecules involved in signal transduction pathways and the actin cytoskeleton. We hypothesized that GCF2, together with Fli-1, plays a role in regulating cytoskeleton function, cell migration, and/or morphology. In our study, we observed that GCF2 is crucial for the activation of RhoA, a small GTPase that plays a key role in the regulation of the actin cytoskeleton. RhoA was markedly inactivated as a result of the decreased expression of GCF2. Co-immunoprecipitations were subsequently performed to further investigate the mechanism for the repressive function. We identified dishevelled (Dvl), which is the key mediator for the Wnt pathway, as a binding partner with GCF2. These results strongly suggest that GCF2 plays a role in the Wnt-noncanonical planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling pathway. Consequently, GCF2 may regulate the cytoskeleton or migration via Dvls and RhoA.