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ERRα: unraveling its role as a key player in cell migration

Oncogene volume 43, pages 379–387 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Cell migration is essential throughout the life of multicellular organisms, and largely depends on the spatial and temporal regulation of cytoskeletal dynamics, cell adhesion and signal transduction. Interestingly, Estrogen-related receptor alpha (ERRα) has been identified as a major regulator of cell migration in both physiological and pathological conditions. ERRα is an orphan member of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily of transcription factors and displays many biological functions. ERRα is a global regulator of energy metabolism, and it is also highly involved in bone homeostasis, development, differentiation, immunity and cancer progression. Importantly, in some instances, the regulation of these biological processes relies on the ability to orchestrate cell movements. Therefore, this review describes how ERRα-mediated cell migration contributes not only to tissue homeostasis but also to tumorigenesis and metastasis, and highlights the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which ERRα finely controls the cell migratory potential.

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Fig. 1: Core mechanisms of cell migration.
Fig. 2: ERRα regulates cell migration in both physiological and pathological conditions.
Fig. 3: Molecular mechanisms through which ERRα finely controls migration potential.

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Acknowledgements

Work in our laboratories is funded by Ligue contre le Cancer (comités Rhône, Ardèche and Drôme), ANSES (Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail, grant EST15-076), JoRiss/ENS research program and Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (grant SCUSI OPE2017_004). The authors thank Violaine Tribollet for helpful discussions.

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  1. Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Lyon, CNRS UMR5286, Inserm U1052, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France

    Jean-Marc Vanacker

  2. Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, UMR5242, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Claude Bernard-Lyon 1, Lyon, France

    Christelle Forcet

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CF drafted the manuscript and prepare the figures. JMV provide critical feedbacks and contributed to the revisions of the manuscript. JMV and CF approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Vanacker, JM., Forcet, C. ERRα: unraveling its role as a key player in cell migration. Oncogene 43, 379–387 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-023-02899-w

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