Abstract
Recent studies have unveiled unexpected connections between cell death and cell motility. While traditionally recognized for their pro-apoptotic roles, caspases have emerged as regulators of physiological processes beyond cell death, including cellular differentiation and motility. In some particularly aggressive cancers like melanoma, caspase-3, a prominent executioner caspase, is unexpectedly and inexplicably highly expressed. Here, we describe a novel non-apoptotic role for caspase-3 in melanoma cell motility. Through comprehensive molecular and cellular analyses, we demonstrate that caspase-3 is constitutively associated with the cytoskeleton and crucially regulates melanoma cell migration and invasion in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, caspase-3 interacts with and modulates the activity of coronin 1B, a key regulator of actin polymerization, thereby promoting melanoma cell motility, independently of its apoptotic protease function. Furthermore, we identify specificity protein 1 (SP1) as a transcriptional regulator of CASP3 expression, and show that its inhibition reduces caspase-3 expression and impairs melanoma cell migration. Overall, this study provides insights into the multifaceted roles of caspase-3 in cancer progression, highlighting its relevance as a novel target for anti-metastatic therapies.