Nat Commun: VAV2 promotes the regenerative proliferation of squamous cell carcinoma in the skin and head and neck.

Skin squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (hnSCC) are cancers that occur in the mucous membranes of the skin's layered epithelial and upper digestive tract, respectively.
, the increased incidence, high invasiveness, poor disease prognosmation, and limited treatment and effectiveness are now a major clinical challenge.
risk factors for these cancers include ultraviolet exposure (for cSCC), alcohol consumption, smoking and HPV infection (for hnSCC).
regenerative proliferation capacity and poor differentiation ability are usually related histological characteristics of hnSCC poor prognostication.
, however, its potential adjustment is still unknown.
the study revealed that these properties can be induced by the RHO GTPase activation factor VAV2 in the formation cells of the skin and oral mucous membranes.
and the maintenance of these features is equally dependent on VAV2.
cancer-promoting effects of the VAV2 signal was found by researchers who found that the catalytic dependence and RHO GTPase dependence function were mediated by c-Myc and YAP/TAZ dependent regenerative proliferation and cell non-differentiation-related transcription.
further studies have shown that the high transcription levels of VAV2 and the high expression levels of the associated characteristic genes regulated by VAV2 correspond to poor prognostication in hnSCC patients.
, the results suggest that VAV2-related signaling pathps may be potential therapeutic targets for specific squamous cell carcinoma subtype malignancies.
.