The Role of E-cadherin in the Motility and Invasion of Implantation Site Intermediate Trophoblast.
During early pregnancy, intermediate (extravillous) trophoblast infiltrates the basal plate and invades the spiral arteries, a physiological process required to establish the maternal-fetal circulation. Immunostaining studies have shown that differentiation of trophoblast into this invasive subpopulation is associated with down-regulation of E-cadherin expression. To study the function of E-cadherin in trophoblast in vitro, we restored E-cadherin expression in an E-cadherin negative human implantation site intermediate trophoblastic cell line, IST-1, using a recombinant adenovirus, E-cad/Ad5 which constitutively expresses E-cadherin. In contrast to the control IST-1 cells which were individual and pleomorphic in shape, E-cad/Ad5 transduced cells were cohesive, uniform, and round. The motility and invasiveness of E-cad/Ad5 transduced IST-1 cells, as compared with the control cells, was significantly reduced. These effects were contact-dependent and were attenuated by a function-perturbing anti-E-cadherin antibody. In conclusion, our results indicate that expression of E-cadherin in IST-1 cells results in a contact-mediated inhibition of motility and invasion and suggest an important role for E-cadherin down-regulation in the intermediate trophoblast during implantation.
Shih
Ie-Ming
IeM
Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, 21205, USA. ishih@jhmi.edu
Hsu
Mei-Yu
MY
Oldt
Robert J
RJ
Herlyn
Meenhard
M
Gearhart
John D
JD
Kurman
Robert J
RJ
D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000235:genetics; D015820:Cadherins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002460:Cell Line; D002465:Cell Movement; D010064:Embryo Implantation; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015870:Gene Expression; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014162:Transfection; D014327:Trophoblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*
D015820:Cadherins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins