Grainyhead-like 2 (GRHL2) regulates epithelial plasticity in pancreatic cancer progression.

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) contribute to cancer metastasis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). We explored the role of grainyhead-like 2 (GRHL2), a suppressor of EMT, in the progression of PDAC. Expressions of GRHL2 were assessed using surgically resected PDAC tissues by immunohistochemistry analysis, and in vitro using human and mouse PDAC cells. Effects on epithelial plasticity and stemness of GRHL2 were examined in vitro using liver metastatic PDAC cells (CFPAC-1) with GRHL2 knockdown by specific siRNAs. GRHL2 has a significantly positive correlation with E-cadherin and CD133 in 155 resected human primary PDAC tissues. GRHL2 is highly expressed in liver metastatic cells than in primary invasive cells of both human and mouse PDAC, accompanied by a positive correlation with E-cadherin expression. GRHL2 knockdown CFPAC-1 cells demonstrated morphological changes into mesenchymal appearances and reduced proliferation through EMT. Notably, knockdown studies followed by flow cytometry analysis for a subpopulation of CD133+ showed that GRHL2 facilitates CFPAC-1 cells to maintain stem-like characters including self-renewal capacity and anoikis resistance. GRHL2 regulates epithelial plasticity along with stemness in PDAC, both of which are crucial for metastasis, implicating the possibility of GRHL2 as a therapeutic target for PDAC liver metastasis.