RASAL2 and NENF depletion interferes with AKT, WNT, and MAPK signaling pathways as well as regulation of epigenetic proteins that were previously demonstrated to drive cancer growth and metastasis.
As opposed to luminal B ER-positive breast cancers, in which RASAL2 has been shown to act as a RAS-GAP tumor suppressor, we found that RASAL2 is oncogenic in TNBC and drives mesenchymal invasion and metastasis.
In human breast cancer, RASAL2 loss is associated with metastatic disease; low RASAL2 levels correlate with recurrence of luminal B tumors; and RASAL2 ablation promotes metastasis of luminal mouse tumors.