MLK3 regulates paxillin phosphorylation in chemokine-mediated breast cancer cell migration and invasion to drive metastasis.

MLK3 kinase activates multiple mitogen-activated protein kinases and plays a critical role in cancer cell migration and invasion. In the tumor microenvironment, prometastatic factors drive breast cancer invasion and metastasis, but their associated signaling pathways are not well-known. Here, we provide evidence that MLK3 is required for chemokine (CXCL12)-induced invasion of basal breast cancer cells. We found that MLK3 induced robust phosphorylation of the focal adhesion scaffold paxillin on Ser 178 and Tyr 118, which was blocked by silencing or inhibition of MLK3-JNK. Silencing or inhibition of MLK3, inhibition of JNK, or expression of paxillin S178A all led to enhanced Rho activity, indicating that the MLK3-JNK-paxillin axis limits Rho activity to promote focal adhesion turnover and migration. Consistent with this, MLK3 silencing increased focal adhesions and stress fibers in breast cancer cells. MLK3 silencing also decreased the formation of breast cancer lung metastases in vivo, and breast cancer cells derived from mouse lung metastases showed enhanced Ser 178 paxillin phosphorylation. Taken together, our findings suggest that the MLK3-JNK-paxillin signaling axis may represent a potential therapeutic target and/or prognostic marker in breast cancer metastasis.