PSPC1 mediates TGF-β1 autocrine signalling and Smad2/3 target switching to promote EMT, stemness and metastasis

Activation of metastatic reprogramming is critical for tumour metastasis. However, more detailed knowledge of the underlying mechanism is needed to enable targeted intervention. Here, we show that paraspeckle component 1 (PSPC1), identified in an aberrant 13q12.11 locus, is upregulated and associated with poor survival in patients with cancer. PSPC1 promotes tumorigenesis, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), stemness and metastasis in multiple cell types and in spontaneous mouse cancer models. PSPC1 is the master activator for transcription factors of EMT and stemness and accompanies c-Myc activation to facilitate tumour growth. PSPC1 increases transforming growth factor- β 1 (TGF- β 1) secretion through an interaction with phosphorylated and nuclear Smad2/3 to potentiate TGF- β 1 autocrine signalling. Moreover, PSPC1 acts as a contextual determinant of the TGF- β 1 pro-metastatic switch to alter Smad2/3 binding preference from tumour-suppressor to pro-metastatic genes. Having validated the PSPC1–Smads–TGF- β 1 axis in various cancers, we conclude that PSPC1 is a master activator of pro-metastatic switches and a potential target for anti-metastasis drugs. Yeh et al. find that PSPC1 is upregulated in cancer and interacts with Smad2/3 to induce TGF-β1. This leads to increased autocrine TGF-β1 signalling and a switch to pro-metastatic TGF-β1-dependent gene expression.