%0 Journal Article
%T Functional characterization of E- and P-cadherin in invasive breast cancer cells
%A David Sarri¨®
%A Jos¨¦ Palacios
%A Marta Hergueta-Redondo
%A Gonzalo G¨®mez-L¨®pez
%A Amparo Cano
%A Gema Moreno-Bueno
%J BMC Cancer
%D 2009
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2407-9-74
%X To compare the functional role of E-cadherin and P-cadherin in invasive breast cancer, we stably transfected these molecules into the MDA-MB-231 cell line, and investigated their effects on motility, invasion and gene expression regulation.Expression of either E- and P-cadherin significantly increased cell aggregation and induced a switch from fibroblastic to epithelial morphology. Although expression of these cadherins did not completely reverse the mesenchymal phenotype of MDA-MB-231 cells, both E- and P-cadherin decreased fibroblast-like migration and invasion through extracellular matrix in a similar way. Moreover, microarray gene expression analysis of MDA-MB-231 cells after expression of E- and P-cadherins revealed that these molecules can activate signaling pathways leading to significant changes in gene expression. Although the expression patterns induced by E- and P-cadherin showed more similarities than differences, 40 genes were differentially modified by the expression of either cadherin type.E- and P-cadherin have similar functional consequences on the phenotype and invasive behavior of MDA-MB-231 cells. Moreover, we demonstrate for the first time that these cadherins can induce both common and specific gene expression programs on invasive breast cancer cells. Importantly, these identified genes are potential targets for future studies on the functional consequences of altered cadherin expression in human breast cancer.Cadherins are integral membrane glycoproteins that mediate calcium-dependent cell-cell adhesion [1]. Their genes cluster in specific chromosomal regions, such as human 16q22.1, where E-cadherin (CDH1) and P-cadherin (CDH3) genes are located [2]. Cadherins have important differences in tissue expression and function [3]. While E-cadherin (E-cadh) is expressed in the luminal epithelial cells of the normal breast, P-cadherin (P-cadh) expression is restricted to myoepithelial cells [3,4]. The cytoplasmic domain of the cadherins interacts with
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/9/74