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BackgroundNijmegen breakage syndrome (NBS) is a chromosomal-instability syndrome associated with cancer predisposition, radiosensitivity, microcephaly, and growth retardation. The NBS gene product, NBS1 (p95) or nibrin, is a part of the MRN complex, a central player associated with double-strand break (DSB) repair. We previously demonstrated that NBS1 overexpression contributes to transformation through the activation of PI 3-kinase/Akt. NBS1 overexpression also induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition through the Snail/MMP2 pathway.MethodsRT-PCR, Western blot analysis, in vitro migration/invasion, soft agar colony formation, and gelatin zymography assays were performed.ResultsHere we show that heat shock protein family members, A4 and A14, were induced by NBS1 overexpression. siRNA mediated knockdown of HSPA4 or HSPA14 decreased the in vitro migration, invasion, and transformation activity in H1299 cells overexpressing NBS1. However, HSPA4 or HSPA14 induced activity was not mediated through MMP2. NBS1 overexpression induced the expression of heat shock transcription factor 4b (HSF4b), which correlated with the expression of HSPA4 and HSPA14.ConclusionThese results identify a novel pathway (NBS1-HSF4b-HSPA4/HSPA14 axis) to induce migration, invasion, and transformation, suggesting the activation of multiple signaling events induced by NBS1 overexpression.