Cortactin Expression in Hematopoietic Cells: Implications for Hematological Malignancies

• Published in: The American journal of pathology Vol. 190; no. 5; pp. 958 - 967
• Main Authors: Castellanos-Martínez, Ramón, Jiménez-Camacho, Karina E, Schnoor, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-05-2020
• ISSN: 1525-2191
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2019.12.011

Cortactin is an actin-binding protein expressed in virtually all cell types. It regulates several cell functions, including adhesion and migration. Cortactin overexpression is associated with increased metastasis formation and worse outcome in different types of solid tumors, thus highlighting a critical role of cortactin in cancer progression. Mechanistically, this is due to increased invadopodia formation and matrix metalloproteinase secretion. Cortactin has been until recently considered absent in hematopoietic cells because these cells express the cortactin homolog hematopoietic cell-specific lyn substrate-1. However, many recent reports describe functional expression of cortactin in different hematopoietic cells, such as macrophages, dendritic cells, and lymphocytes. Of note, cortactin is strongly overexpressed in leukemic cell lines and primary patient-derived leukemic cells. In B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia, this is associated with poor prognosis and increased chemotaxis; in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, high cortactin levels correlate with treatment failure and relapse. Moreover, cortactin has been proposed as a diagnostic marker for non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphomas. This review summarizes current knowledge on cortactin expression in hematopoietic cells and discusses the functional implications for different hematological malignancies.