title: Adhesion properties, intermediate filaments and malignant behaviour of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cells in vitro.
abstract: This study compared phenotype and behaviour of seven head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cell lines and normal epithelial cells. Indications were found that in HNSCC cells: 1) loss of the cell-cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin was correlated with loss of epithelioid cell morphology but not with loss of cell-cell cohesion; 2) reduced expression of the cell-cell adhesion molecule desmoglein was unrelated to cell shape or motility; 3) high expression of the cell-substrate adhesion molecule alpha 6 beta 4, a receptor for laminin, corresponded with epithelioid colony formation while, in our adhesion assay, low expression of alpha 6 beta 4 paradoxically coincided with an increased adhesion to laminin; 4) presence of vimentin intermediate filaments coincided with loss of anchorage dependency. We propose that by simultaneous downregulation of E-cadherin, replacement of alpha 6 beta 4 by an aberrant laminin receptor and co-expression of vimentin a malignant phenotype arises of spindle-shaped, motile, anchorage-independent HNSCC cells with enhanced laminin-binding capacity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Tomson
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Scholma
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Meijer
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Koning
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van der Werf
mesh_terms: D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000378:metabolism*; D002450:Cell Communication; D002465:Cell Movement; D048429:Cell Size; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051182:Desmogleins; D051180:Desmoplakins; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007382:Intermediate Filaments / Q000378:metabolism*; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D010641:Phenotype; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D014746:Vimentin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D051182:Desmogleins; D051180:Desmoplakins; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D014746:Vimentin