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A nano-liquid hub integrating growth and immune-evasion signaling to promote cell survival
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A nano-liquid hub integrating growth and immune-evasion signaling to promote cell survival

Taka A. Tsunoyama, Christian Hoffmann, Daiki Sasaki +11 more
March 2026
 ·
bioRxiv
 ·
DOI 
10.1101/2021.12.30.474523
94
%
Reproducible
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This paper passed independent validation.
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It ranks in the top 1% of preprints assessed in Cell Biology this quarter.
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Why this is interesting

Demonstrating that RTK growth and CD59-mediated immune-evasion signals physically converge within a single endogenous nanoscale liquid hub overturns parallel-pathway thinking and establishes plasma membrane nanoorganization as a targetable driver of tumor survival.

QED claims analysis

Summary

GEM (Growth and Evasion Metastable hub) is a ~34-nm, metastable, nano-liquid plasma membrane assembly that physically integrates receptor tyrosine kinase and CD59-mediated immune-evasion signaling through zyxin IDR2-driven liquid-liquid phase separation-like processes, enabling cooperative FAK-SFK kinase spiral activation that produces supralinear amplification of PLC γ-IP3-Ca2+ and PI3K-Akt survival signaling outputs and promotes tumor growth in vivo.

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Main Claim 1 –

Apical talin clusters recruit RTKs and CD59 to integrate signaling

Supporting evidence

  • CD59 arrival at talin clusters triggers PLCγ1 recruitment and MAC binding
Main Claim 2 –

Talin–zyxin co-assembly forms liquid-like nanoscale GEMs with rapid exchange

Supporting evidence

  • PI(4,5)P2 raft nanodomains are required for GEM formation
Main Claim 3 –

Zyxin IDR2 is necessary and sufficient for LLPS-like GEM formation

Supporting evidence

  • Zyxin/VASP undergo LLPS; IDR2 condensation driven by π interactions
Main Claim 4 –

CD59+PDGFR co-stimulation supralinearly amplifies survival signaling at GEMs

Supporting evidence

  • GEMs recruit PLCγ1/FAK/SFK/PI3K/Akt; 35% PLCγ1 is GEM-dependent
  • IDR-driven GEMs enable Ca2+ and Akt signaling and CDC resistance
  • Artificial confinement supports kinase-spiral cooperative activation mechanism

Abstract

Cell survival in immune-competent organisms relies on both growth and immune evasion, yet these processes have been studied as independent cellular programs. Here, using super-resolution single-molecule imaging, we identify GEM (Growth and Evasion Metastable hub), a ≈34-nm, metastable, nano-liquid, plasma membrane hub that physically integrates receptor-type tyrosine kinase (RTK) inputs with CD59-mediated immune-evasion signaling within the same assembly. GEM is formed by LLPS-like protein clustering on PI(4,5)P2-containing raft-nanodomains. Upon concurrent RTK and CD59 stimulations, GEM recruits both receptors and downstream kinases, enabling reciprocal activation via nano-liquid confinement that supralinearly amplifies PLCγ–IP3–Ca2+ and PI3K–Akt survival signaling outputs. In mice, disrupting GEM suppresses tumor growth in vivo, establishing nano-liquid GEM as an integrator that physically couples growth and CD59-mediated immune-evasion signaling for cell survival.

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