title: Dominant-negative E-cadherin alters adhesion and reverses contact inhibition of growth in breast carcinoma cells.
abstract: Cadherins play a crucial role in epithelial morphogenesis and mediate intercellular adhesion. These receptors bind catenins and are involved in signal transduction pathways that regulate cell growth and apoptosis, and are frequently down-regulated in invasive and metastatic carcinomas. In order to assess the role of E-cadherin in cell adhesion and growth, we transfected MCF-7 cells, a human breast cancer cell line, with a dominant-negative construct of E-cadherin (H-2kd-E-cad). The dominant-negative form of E-cadherin disrupted cell-cell adhesion of monolayer cells and induced an epithelial-to-fibroblastic conversion without any significant change in integrin profiles. Whereas control cells rapidly formed multicellular aggregates that tightly compacted into spheroids, dominant-negative transfected cells failed to compact and remained as loosely-associated cells. The transfectants exhibited down-regulation and redistribution of endogenous E-cadherin as well as increased levels of alpha- and beta-catenin. Importantly, the H-2kd-E-cad-transfected cells, when grown as multicellular aggregates, showed an increase in cell proliferation rate, compared to control cells. Overall, these observations suggest that in breast carcinoma, disruption of E-cadherin and catenin function modulates both cell-cell adhesion and permits escape from cell-cell contact-involved inhibition of cell growth.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54006 Thessaloniki, Greece. ivizir@pharm.auth.gr
authors.forename: Ioannis S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Vizirianakis
authors.forename: Yao-Qi
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Seema S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kantak
authors.forename: Asterios S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Tsiftsoglou
authors.forename: Randall H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Kramer
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000502:physiology*; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D002455:Cell Division; D002465:Cell Movement; D003260:Contact Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D005799:Genes, Dominant; D006183:H-2 Antigens / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D015854:Up-Regulation; D051178:alpha Catenin; D051176:beta Catenin
chemical_list: C495273:CTNNA1 protein, human; C495270:CTNNB1 protein, human; D015820:Cadherins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D006183:H-2 Antigens; C024755:H-2K(K) antigen; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D051178:alpha Catenin; D051176:beta Catenin