ARHGEF19 regulates MAPK/ERK signaling and promotes the progression of small cell lung cancer.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive lung tumor subtype with poor survival. To identify genes that differentially expressed in SCLC with tumor promotion activity as candidate therapeutic targets, we analyzed the expression of 50 RhoGEFs family genes in published microarray data of SCLC and normal tissues (Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) dataset GSE43346). We identified ARHGEF19, a member of RhoGEFs family, as an overexpressed oncogene in SCLC. ARHGEF19 is up-regulated in SCLC tissues and ranks first in RhoGEFs family genes. Enforced ARHGEF19 expression promotes SCLC cell proliferation in vitro and its knockdown decreases cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. ARHGEF19-DH and -PD domain interacts with HRAS and activates the MAPK/ERK pathway in SCLC cells and SCLC xenografts. Our study presents evidences that ARHGEF19 overexpression promotes SCLC cell growth and activates the MAPK/ERK pathway. These findings would shed light on the development of new therapeutics for SCLC management.