The scaffold PDZ-domain containing protein mda-9/syntenin functions as a positive regulator of cancer cell progression in human melanoma and other tumors. mda-9/Syntenin regulates cell motility and invasion by altering defined biochemical and signaling pathways, including focal adhesion kinase (FAK), p38 mitogenactivated protein kinase (MAPK) and NF-B, but precisely how mda-9/syntenin organizes these multiprotein signaling complexes is not well understood. Using a clinically relevant human melanoma model, we demonstrate that mda-9/syntenin physically interacts with c-Src and this communication correlates with an increase in FAK/c-Src complex formation and c-Src activation. Inhibiting mda-9/syntenin, using an adenovirus expressing antisense mda-9/syntenin or addition of c-Src siRNA, suppresses melanoma cell migration, anchorage-independent growth, and spontaneous tumor cell dissemination in vivo in a human melanoma animal metastasis model. These data are compatible with a model wherein interaction of MDA-9/syntenin with c-Src promotes the formation of an active FAK/c-Src signaling complex, leading to enhanced tumor cell invasion and metastatic spread. These provocative findings highlight mda-9/ syntenin and its interacting partners as promising therapeutic targets for intervention of metastasis. Understanding and preventing this process and its dire consequences remain formidable obstacles in achieving successful treatment outcomes in advanced cancer patients. In the context of advanced melanoma, the response rate of patients with metastatic disease to single agent chemotherapy or combination therapies is frequently less than 10% (1). Given this bleak picture, it is vital to develop new, efficacious, and rationally designed treatment strategies to, ideally, prevent or effectively treat metastasis. In this context, defining relevant genes that are seminal regulators of metastasis provide an entry point for developing improved therapies.Melanoma differentiation associated gene-9 (mda-9) was cloned in our laboratory (2, 3) as a unique gene displaying biphasic expression during terminal differentiation of human melanoma cells treated with a combination of fibroblast IFN (IFN-) and the antileukemic compound mezerein (MEZ). These changes are consistent with early enhancement followed by decreased expression during the course of reversion of the cancer phenotype in melanoma cells (2, 3). mda-9, also called syntenin, expression displays an inverse relationship with tumor progression, with lowlevel expression in melanocytes and radial growth phase (RGP) primary melanoma versus elevated expression in vertical growth phase (VGP) primary melanoma and metastatic melanomas (4, 5). The level of mda-9/syntenin is also elevated in multiple additional cancers, including breast and gastric carcinomas, suggesting an expanded involvement in tumor progression (6). Recently, we confirmed the importance of mda-9/syntenin in metastasis in vivo, providing direct support for mda-9/syntenin as an essential gene controlling melanoma progres...