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Review
. 2021 Jun;14(6):101051.
doi: 10.1016/j.tranon.2021.101051. Epub 2021 Mar 21.

The remodelling of actin composition as a hallmark of cancer

Rahul Suresh  1 , Roberto J Diaz  2
Affiliations
Review

The remodelling of actin composition as a hallmark of cancer

Rahul Suresh et al. Transl Oncol. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Actin is a key structural protein that makes up the cytoskeleton of cells, and plays a role in functions such as division, migration, and vesicle trafficking. It comprises six different cell-type specific isoforms: ACTA1, ACTA2, ACTB, ACTC1, ACTG1, and ACTG2. Abnormal actin isoform expression has been reported in many cancers, which led us to hypothesize that it may serve as an early biomarker of cancer. We show an overview of the different actin isoforms and highlight mechanisms by which they may contribute to tumorigenicity. Furthermore, we suggest how the aberrant expression of actin subunits can confer cells with greater proliferation ability, increased migratory capability, and chemoresistance through incorporation into the normal cellular F-actin network and altered actin binding protein interaction. Studying this fundamental change that takes place within cancer cells can further our understanding of neoplastic transformation in multiple tissue types, which can ultimately aid in the early-detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Keywords: Actin; Cancer; Cytoskeleton; Migration; Neoplasia; Transformation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Image, graphical abstract
Graphical abstract
Fig 1:
Fig. 1
A schematic representation of the different actin isoforms. Top panel - karyotype marking of the particular chromosome with the locus of each actin gene marked in red. Bottom panel – actin fibre schematic with regions of variability at the N-terminus of each actin isoform. Regions of the same colour represent an identical amino acid sequence .
Fig 2:
Fig. 2
Illustration of actin polymerization and steady-state treadmilling. ATP-actin subunits becomes added to the “+” or barbed end whereas the ADP-actin monomers dissociate from the “-” end of the F-actin filament.
Fig 3:
Fig. 3
A flow diagram of the different actin isoforms and how they contribute to tumorigenicity. ACTA1 = αskeletal-actin 1, ACTA2 = αsmooth-actin 2, ACTB = βcyto-actin, ACTC1 = αcardiac-actin 1, ACTG1 = γcyto-actin 1 and ACTG2 = γsmooth-actin 2.
Fig 4:
Fig. 4
Flow diagram of the potential mechanisms by which altered F-actin composition can promote tumorigenicity. .
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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