Identification of invasion specific splice variants of the cytoskeletal protein Mena present in mammary tumor cells during invasion in vivo.
We have studied the gene expression pattern of invasive primary mammary tumor cells using a unique in vivo invasion assay that isolates the invasive tumor cells by chemotaxis. One of the genes upregulated in the invasive tumor cells is Mena, an actin binding protein involved in the regulation of cell motility. There are multiple known splice variants of Mena accounted for by four alternatively included exons, +, ++, +++ and 11a. Using the in vivo invasion assay in rats and mice with mammary tumors we observed that two isoforms of Mena, ++ and +++, are upregulated in the invasive tumor cells and one isoform, 11a, is downregulated. The Mena isoform switching pattern described here may provide a new biomarker for the presence of metastatic cancer cells and for prognosis.
Goswami
Sumanta
S
Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA. sgoswami@aecom.yu.edu
Philippar
Ulrike
U
Sun
Daqian
D
Patsialou
Antonia
A
Avraham
Jacob
J
Wang
Weigang
W
Di Modugno
Francesca
F
Nistico
Paola
P
Gertler
Frank B
FB
Condeelis
John S
JS
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002633:Chemotaxis; D006801:Humans; D008325:Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D016513:Mice, SCID; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous
C511939:Enah protein, human; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; D020033:Protein Isoforms