title: TGFbeta signaling supports survival and metastasis of endometrial cancer cells.
abstract: The association of mutation of the transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) type II receptor (RII) with microsatellite instability revealed a significant molecular mechanism of tumorigenesis and tumor progression in gastrointestinal carcinomas with DNA replication error. However, mutation of RII is rare in other types of carcinomas with microsatellite instability including endometrial adenocarcinoma suggesting that TGFbeta receptor signaling may be necessary for tumor progression. To test this hypothesis, we abrogated TGFbeta signaling with ectopic expression of a dominant-negative RII (DNRII) in human endometrial carcinoma HEC-1-A cells with microsatellite instability. Our study showed that over-expression of DNRII blocked the TGFbeta signaling, inhibited anchorage-dependent and -independent growth, and stimulated apoptosis in vitro. Interestingly, the expression of DNRII expression showed little effect on tumor growth of subcutaneously inoculated cells in vivo. On the other hand, the DNRII cells showed more epithelial features whereas the control cells showed more mesenchymal features suggesting a reversal of autocrine TGFbeta-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Consistent with these findings, DNRII cells were much less migratory and invasive in vitro and metastatic in vivo than the control cells. Therefore, an intact TGFbeta signaling pathway appears necessary for the metastatic phenotypes of this carcinoma model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA.
authors.forename: Xiufen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Junhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Lu-Zhe
authors.initials: LZ
authors.lastname: Sun