We previously demonstrated that a disintegrin and metalloprotease domain 9 (ADAM9) promotes lung metastasis by enhancing the expression of a pro-migratory protein, CUB domain containing protein 1 (CDCP1).
We previously demonstrated that ADAM9 enhanced the expression of the pro-migratory protein CDCP1 to promote lung metastasis; however, the regulatory process remains unknown.
Here, we demonstrate that ADAM9 enhances the ability of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) to cleave and stimulate the function of the promigratory protein CDCP1 to promote lung metastasis.
Using RNA interference for gene silencing, we show that ADAM9 is essential for in vitro cancer cell proliferation and invasion as well as in vivo cancer metastasis in an experimental murine model of lung metastases.