Rac and PAK: a partnership at the interface between junction disassembly and increased cell motility

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Tight adhesion between neighbouring cells plays an important role in the maintenance of tissue cohesion and architecture. During tumorigenesis, disruption of cell-cell adhesion is a key event for cell detachment from solid tumours and metastasis. We found that increased activity of Rac, a signalling protein, leads to a rapid destabilization of cell-cell contacts and increased migration and invasion of cells. Similar Rac hyper-activity is found in many different types of tumours and participate in malignant transformation. Here we propose to identify regulatory molecules that are recruited by Rac to help perturb cell-cell contact stability and investigate their potential as therapeutic targets during tumorigenesis.