Taken together, we suggest that STAT1‑HDAC4 signaling induces malignant tumor features such as EMT and sphere formation in CUG2‑overexpressing cancer cells.
Because several lines of evidence documented that Yes-Associated Protein (YAP)1 is closely associated with cancer stem cell (CSC)-like phenotypes including EMT, stemness, and drug resistance, we wondered if YAP1 is involved in CUG2-induced EMT.
The suppression of β‑catenin decreased cancer stem cell (CSC)‑like phenotypes, indicating that β‑catenin is involved in CUG2‑mediated CSC‑like phenotypes.
We thus wonder whether CUG2 also induces stemness, a characteristic of cancer stem cells (CSCs) and further examine the molecular mechanism of this phenotype.