Cancer Therapy Using the Short-Talin Inhibitor mH4

Collaborative research with Morgan State University (USA):

In prostate and breast cancers, neurite outgrowth is known to contribute to tumor progression, and the transcription factor Snail has been reported to promote this process. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that Snail induces neurite outgrowth through exosome-mediated signaling.

Exosomes derived from Snail-overexpressing cancer cells predominantly contained cleaved Talin1 fragments. When these exosomes were added to neural progenitor cells, both the proportion of cells exhibiting neurite outgrowth and the length of neurites were significantly increased. In contrast, the short-talin inhibitory peptide mH4 suppressed Snail-induced neurite outgrowth as well as AKT activation.

These findings suggest that Snail may promote tumor–nerve interactions via Talin1, and that mH4 could serve as a promising therapeutic target for malignant tumors associated with neurite outgrowth.

Hwang BJ, Polanco G, Sane S, Almeida IC, Tsuzaka K, Denaro F, Rezvani K, Odero-Marah VA. Talin1 Mediates Tumor-Nerve Interactions in Prostate and Breast Cancer Cells. J Cancer 2026; 17(2):359-371.