Structural, Kinetic and Functional Properties of CAP1/AC Complexes

Abstract

The major cause of death in pancreatic cancer is due to metastases; therefore, it is important to study the mechanism by which the pancreatic cancer cells migrate and invade. This would help advance therapeutics and ultimately help prolong survival. Adenylyl cyclase-associated protein 1 (CAP1) is a scaffold protein that is involved in the regulation of actin microfilament formation, which ultimately leads to cell migration and invasion. CAP1 binds to G-actin inhibiting polymerization. We first tested whether CAP1 binds to adenylyl cyclase (AC) by performing co-immunoprecipitation. We found that CAP1 not only interacts with G-actin, but also with a number of AC isoforms: AC1, AC3, AC4 and AC7. Further studies need to be done to determine how CAP1/AC/G-actin interact and the impact of these interactions on the invasive behavior of pancreatic cancer cells.