Accumulated SET protein up-regulates and interacts with hnRNPK, increasing its binding to nucleic acids, the Bcl-xS repression, and cellular proliferation

•hnRNPK is a new target of SET.•SET regulates hnRNPK.•SET and hnRNPK accumulation promotes tumorigenesis.•SET accumulation is a potential model to study genes regulated by SET-hnRNPK. SET and hnRNPK are proteins involved in gene expression and regulation of cellular signaling. We previously demonstrated that SET accumulates in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC); hnRNPK is a prognostic marker in cancer. Here, we postulate that SET and hnRNPK proteins interact to promote tumorigenesis. We performed studies in HEK293 and HNSCC (HN6, HN12, and HN13) cell lines with SET/hnRNPK overexpression and knockdown, respectively. We found that SET and/or hnRNPK protein accumulation increased cellular proliferation. SET accumulation up-regulated hnRNPK mRNA and total/phosphorylated protein, promoted hnRNPK nuclear location, and reduced Bcl-x mRNA levels. SET protein directly interacted with hnRNPK, increasing both its binding to nucleic acids and Bcl-xS repression. We propose that hnRNPK should be a new target of SET and that SET–hnRNPK interaction, in turn, has potential implications in cell survival and malignant transformation.