title: Cadherin-23 mediates heterotypic cell-cell adhesion between breast cancer epithelial cells and fibroblasts.
abstract: In the early stages of breast cancer metastasis, epithelial cells penetrate the basement membrane and invade the surrounding stroma, where they encounter fibroblasts. Paracrine signaling between fibroblasts and epithelial tumor cells contributes to the metastatic cascade, but little is known about the role of adhesive contacts between these two cell types in metastasis. Here we show that MCF-7 breast cancer epithelial cells and normal breast fibroblasts form heterotypic adhesions when grown together in co-culture, as evidenced by adhesion assays. PCR and immunoblotting show that both cell types express multiple members of the cadherin superfamily, including the atypical cadherin, cadherin-23, when grown in isolation and in co-culture. Immunocytochemistry experiments show that cadherin-23 localizes to homotypic adhesions between MCF-7 cells and also to heterotypic adhesions between the epithelial cells and fibroblasts, and antibody inhibition and RNAi experiments show that cadherin-23 plays a role in mediating these adhesive interactions. Finally, we show that cadherin-23 is upregulated in breast cancer tissue samples, and we hypothesize that heterotypic adhesions mediated by this atypical cadherin may play a role in the early stages of metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Apostolopoulou
authors.forename: Lee
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ligon
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000070585:Cadherin Related Proteins; D015820:Cadherins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000235:genetics; D002460:Cell Line; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism*; D015870:Gene Expression; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D021381:Protein Transport
chemical_list: C442480:CDH23 protein, human; D000070585:Cadherin Related Proteins; D015820:Cadherins