Slit-Robo Repulsive Signaling Extrudes Tumorigenic Cells from Epithelia

Highlights

• Autocrine Slit-Robo2-Ena signaling eliminates tumorigenic epithelial cells

• Slit-Robo2-Ena extrudes polarity-deficient cells by disrupting E-cadherin

• Robo2-Ena hyperactivation triggers excess extrusion and luminal tumorigenesis

• A positive feedback loop between JNK and Robo2-Ena amplifies extrusive signaling

Summary

Cells dynamically interact throughout animal development to coordinate growth and deter disease. For example, cell-cell competition weeds out aberrant cells to enforce homeostasis. In Drosophila, tumorigenic cells mutant for the cell polarity gene scribble (scrib) are actively eliminated from epithelia when surrounded by wild-type cells. While scrib cell elimination depends critically on JNK signaling, JNK-dependent cell death cannot sufficiently explain scrib cell extirpation. Thus, how JNK executed cell elimination remained elusive. Here, we show that repulsive Slit-Robo2-Ena signaling exerts an extrusive force downstream of JNK to eliminate scrib cells from epithelia by disrupting E-cadherin. While loss of Slit-Robo2-Ena in scrib cells potentiates scrib tumor formation within the epithelium, Robo2-Ena hyperactivation surprisingly triggers luminal scrib tumor growth following excess extrusion. This extrusive signaling is amplified by a positive feedback loop between Slit-Robo2-Ena and JNK. Our observations provide a potential causal mechanism for Slit-Robo dysregulation in numerous human cancers.