LPA-induced migration of ovarian cancer cells requires activation of ERM proteins via LPA and LPA.

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) has been implicated in the pathology of human ovarian cancer. This phospholipid elicits a wide range of cancer cell responses, such as proliferation, trans-differentiation, migration, and invasion, via various G-protein-coupled LPA receptors (LPARs). Here, we explored the cellular signaling pathway via which LPA induces migration of ovarian cancer cells. LPA induced robust phosphorylation of ezrin/radixin/moesin (ERM) proteins, which are membrane-cytoskeleton linkers, in the ovarian cancer cell line OVCAR-3. Among the LPAR subtypes expressed in these cells, LPA and LPA, but not LPA, induced phosphorylation of ERM proteins at their C-termini. This phosphorylation was dependent on the Gα/RhoA pathway, but not on the Gα/Ca/PKC or Gα/adenylate cyclase/PKA pathway. The activated ERM proteins mediated cytoskeletal reorganization and formation of membrane protrusions in OVCAR-3 cells. Importantly, LPA-induced migration of OVCAR-3 cells was completely abolished not only by gene silencing of LPA or LPA, but also by overexpression of a dominant negative ezrin mutant (ezrin-T567A). Taken together, this study demonstrates that the LPA/LPA/ERM pathway mediates LPA-induced migration of ovarian cancer cells. These findings may provide a potential therapeutic target to prevent metastatic progression of ovarian cancer.