TY - JOUR AB - Invasiveness and metastatic potential are among the most essential characteristics of malignant tumors. Furthermore, it has been reported that autophagy and invasion are enhanced when tumor cells are grown in adverse conditions, such as nutritional deficiency and starvation. However, the association between autophagy and invasion remains largely unclear. In the present study, Earle's balanced salt solution (EBSS) was used to induce autophagy and an autophagy inhibitor was used to block autophagy. The results of Transwell assays revealed that autophagy inhibition limited the invasiveness of human ovarian cancer cells. Furthermore, the results of invadopodia formation assay indicated that autophagy stimulated invadopodia formation, and the selective autophagy receptor and signaling adaptor, sequestosome-1 (SQSTM1/p62 or simply p62), was closely associated with invadopodia formation in human ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells. The results of western blot analysis indicated that autophagy induced changes in p62 protein levels and p62 then functioned as a negative regulator of extracellular signal-regulated kinaseĀ 1/2 (ERK1/2) activity and invadopodia formation. The interaction between autophagy and invasion may thus be a self-protective mechanism for tumor cells in an unfavorable environment of nutritional deficiency, that maintains their survival and leads to increased invasiveness. An exploration of the intrinsic link between autophagy and invasion may provide a novel theoretical basis to reverse the resistance of tumor cells to a nutritional deficient environment. AD - Key Laboratory of Pathobiology, Ministry of Education, Department of Pathophysiology, Basic College of Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, P.R. China Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, P.R. China AU - Zhou,Zizhen AU - Zhao,Jia AU - Liu,Yanan AU - Yan,Xiaoyu AU - Sun,Hongyu AU - Xia,Meihui AU - Su,Jing DA - 2021/09/01 DO - 10.3892/etm.2021.10384 IS - 3 JO - Exp Ther Med KW - autophagy invadopodia p62 ERK1/2 PY - 2021 SN - 1792-0981 1792-1015 SP - 952 ST - Autophagy promotes invadopodia formation in human ovarian cancer cells via the p62-extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 pathway T2 - Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine TI - Autophagy promotes invadopodia formation in human ovarian cancer cells via the p62-extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 pathway UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2021.10384 VL - 22 ER -