SCRIB Promotes Proliferation and Metastasis by Targeting Hippo/YAP Signalling in Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

The complex in which scribble planar cell polarity protein (<i>SCRIB</i>) is located is one of the three main polar protein complexes that play an important role in maintaining epithelial polarity and affecting tumour growth. However, the role of <i>SCRIB</i> in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains largely unknown. This study used date from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and clinical samples to determine the expression of <i>SCRIB</i> in CRC and explored its mechanism through bioinformatics analysis and <i>in vivo</i> and <i>in vitro</i> experiments. In this study, <i>SCRIB</i> was found to be highly expressed in CRC patients, and it was often associated with malignant characteristics, such as proliferation, apoptosis, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Furthermore, we found that <i>SCRIB</i> may interact with the Hippo signalling pathway and affect the phosphorylation of YAP and its distribution inside and outside of the nucleus. We concluded that increased expression of <i>SCRIB</i> is likely to inhibit the Hippo signalling pathway by promoting YAP phosphorylation. This role of <i>SCRIB</i> in the progression of CRC provides an important information for the treatment of CRC.