Rho kinase phosphorylation promotes ezrin-mediated metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma.

During progression of hepatocellular carcinoma, multiple genetic and epigenetic alterations act to posttranslationally modulate the function of proteins that promote cancer invasion and metastasis. To define such abnormalities that contribute to liver cancer metastasis, we carried out a proteomic comparison of primary hepatocellular carcinoma and samples of intravascular thrombi from the same patient. Mass spectrometric analyses of the liver cancer samples revealed a series of acidic phospho-isotypes associated with the intravascular thrombi samples.