Customer Publication
TNIK Regulates Cytoskeletal Organization to Promote Focal Adhesion Turnover and Mitosis in Lung Adenocarcinoma
Journal: Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (2025)
Research Areas: Cancer Research
Cell Lines: MDA‑MB‑231, MCF‑7 (human breast cancer line)
Summary: The goal of this study was to investigate the role of the kinase TNIK (Traf2- and Nck- interacting kinase) in regulating cytoskeletal organization and thereby promoting tumour malignancy, specifically exploring the signalling axis of the RHOA/ROCK2/LIMK1 pathway. The authors found that TNIK is up-regulated in tumour tissues, correlates with poor prognosis, and that experimentally knocking down or inhibiting TNIK reduces focal adhesion turnover, F-actin stress fibre formation, cell migration and invasion, and tumour growth in vivo. Mechanistically, they showed that TNIK acts upstream of RHOA/ROCK2/LIMK1 to influence actin cytoskeleton and adhesion dynamics, thereby promoting malignancy. In short: TNIK is a driver of cytoskeletal changes that enable more aggressive tumour behaviour. HoloMonitor M4 was used to track adherent tumour cells (with and without TNIK knockdown) to quantify cell motility and migration dynamics under physiologically relevant conditions.