Src promotes tumor cell invasion by hijacking the translation machinery

The Src oncogene controls cancer cell invasiveness by promoting invadosome formation and extracellular matrix degradation (ECM). Invadosomes are enriched in the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3 (eIF3) complex associated with a local mRNA translation activity mandatory for their maintenance. Here, we show that Src regulates mRNA translation by controlling the expression of eIF3 subunits. Among them, eIF3h/e/d are essential for invadosome formation and ECM degradation. We demonstrate that Src controls the canonical mTOR/eIF4E and the non-canonical eIF3d cap-dependent translation initiation pathways. We show that both pathways are necessary for invadosome formation and their ECM degradation function. Finally, we highlighted a correlation between Src and eIF3h/e/d overexpression, which is associated with poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients and controls the ECM degradation and invasive properties of HCC cells. These findings identify Src as a major regulator of translation initiation pathways, which leads to invadosome formation, ECM degradation and tumor cell invasion. Abstract Figure Graphical abstract