Page 120 - D. Cancer biology

[D. Cancer biology-75]

FAF1 plays a tumor suppressive role in PANC-1 cells

Daeho Park¹, Ki-Hong Jang¹, Yeonju Yoo¹, Eunhee Kim¹˙*

¹Department of biological sciences, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, South Korea

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients exhibit oncogenic KRAS mutation rate of >90%. Here, we report
that Fas-associated factor1 (FAF1) plays a tumor suppressive role in PANC-1 cells. FAF1 overexpression caused
apoptosis in PANC-1 cells. Furthermore, FAF1 overexpression inhibited colony formation in PANC-1 cells, and sphere

formation when assayed using ultra-low attachment plates. These data imply that FAF1 negatively regulates PDAC

pathogenesis. Next, we investigated whether FAF1 affects KRAS pathway activation. FAF1 activated extracellular
signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2, but not p38, JNK, and MEK1/2. Moreover, pan-caspase inhibitor (z-VAD)
compromised ERK1/2 activation in FAF1-overexpressing PANC-1 cells, suggesting that caspase might act upstream

of ERK1/2. Effectors downstream of ERK1/2 are currently under study. (This research was supported by a grant of
the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded

by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant number: HI16C0947).