NISCH encodes the imidazoline receptor Nischarin and is a known tumor suppressor in many human malignancies; however, its roles in ovarian cancer are still largely unknown.
The tumor suppressor Nischarin interacts with a number of signaling proteins such as Integrin α5, PAK1, LIMK1, LKB1, and Rac1 to prevent cancer cell migration.
Here, we show for the first time, metformin activates AMPK signaling and inhibits tumor growth of Nischarin lacking PyMT tumors suggesting a potential use for metformin as a cancer therapeutic, particularly in the case of Nischarin-deficient breast cancers.
Taken together, this study reveals a novel role for Nischarin in preventing cancer cell motility, which contributes to our understanding of exosome biology.
The significant differences in the expression of Nischarin between: i) Cancer tissue and noncancerous tissue and ii) patients with and without lymph node metastasis, suggested that Nischarin may have a significant role in tumor occurrence and metastasis of breast cancer.