Previous study revealed that DAL-1 (differentially expressed in adenocarcinoma of the lung) could attenuate EMT and metastasis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
EPB41L3 may play a role as a metastasis suppressor by supporting regular arrangements of actin stress fibres and alleviating the increase in cell motility associated with enhanced metastatic potential.
These results suggest that tumor suppressor DAL-1 could also attenuate EMT and be important for tumor metastasis in the early transformation process in lung cancer.
DAL-1 mRNA and protein levels were measured in NSCLC cell lines and in tumor cells isolated from the pleural fluid of NSCLC patients clinically diagnosed with distant metastases to the bone or brain.
These findings, together with frequent loss of their expression in lung cancers, suggest that TSLC1 and DAL-1 play a critical role in the same pathway involved in the suppression of lung tumor formation and metastasis.