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Review
. 2019 Aug 25;20(17):4156.
doi: 10.3390/ijms20174156.

The Role of SATB1 in Tumour Progression and Metastasis

Natalia Glatzel-Plucińska  1 , Aleksandra Piotrowska  2 , Piotr Dzięgiel  2   3 , Marzenna Podhorska-Okołów  4
Affiliations
Review

The Role of SATB1 in Tumour Progression and Metastasis

Natalia Glatzel-Plucińska et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Carcinogenesis is a long-drawn, multistep process, in which metastatic spread is an unequivocal hallmark of a poor prognosis. The progression and dissemination of epithelial cancers is commonly thought to rely on the epidermal-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process. During EMT, epithelial cells lose their junctions and apical-basal polarity, and they acquire a mesenchymal phenotype with its migratory and invasive capabilities. One of the proteins involved in cancer progression and EMT may be SATB1 (Special AT-Rich Binding Protein 1)-a chromatin organiser and a global transcriptional regulator. SATB1 organizes chromatin into spatial loops, providing a "docking site" necessary for the binding of further transcription factors and chromatin modifying enzymes. SATB1 has the ability to regulate whole sets of genes, even those located on distant chromosomes. SATB1 was found to be overexpressed in numerous malignancies, including lymphomas, breast, colorectal, prostate, liver, bladder and ovarian cancers. In the solid tumours, an elevated SATB1 level was observed to be associated with an aggressive phenotype, presence of lymph node, distant metastases, and a poor prognosis. In this review, we briefly describe the prognostic significance of SATB1 expression in most common human cancers, and analyse its impact on EMT and metastasis.

Keywords: EMT; SATB1; Special AT-Rich Binding Protein 1; cancer; epidermal-mesenchymal transition; metastasis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diagram depicting the epithelial-mesenchymal transition process. Cobblestone-like epithelial cells (“Epithelial state”, on the left) gradually lose their junctions and apical-basal polarity, and become spindle-shaped and invasive (“Mesenchymal state”, on the right). The epithelial and mesenchymal markers commonly used to describe EMT progression are listed above the specific cells. The transition process is mediated by the three main transcription factors: SNAIL, SLUG, and Twist1. The impact of SATB1 on the expression of particular factors is indicated by the red (expression repressed) or green (expression stimulated) arrows.
Figure 2
Figure 2
SATB1′s expression in human lymphocytes (A), breast cancer (B), normal airway epithelium (C), normal lung alveoli (D), lung adenocarcinoma (AC; E), lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC; F), small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC; G) and colorectal cancer (CRC; H).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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