title: E-cadherin's role in development, tissue homeostasis and disease: Insights from mouse models: Tissue-specific inactivation of the adhesion protein E-cadherin in mice reveals its functions in health and disease.
abstract: Recent studies uncovered critical roles of the adhesion protein E-cadherin in health and disease. Global inactivation of Cdh1, the gene encoding E-cadherin in mice, results in early embryonic lethality due to an inability to form the trophectodermal epithelium. To unravel E-cadherin's functions beyond development, numerous mouse lines with tissue-specific disruption of Cdh1 have been generated. The consequences of E-cadherin loss showed great variability depending on the tissue in question, ranging from nearly undetectable changes to a complete loss of tissue structure and function. This review focuses on these studies and discusses how they provided important insights into E-cadherin's role in cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation, and its consequences for biological processes as epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, vascularization, and carcinogenesis. Lastly, we present some perspectives and possible approaches for future research.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Animal Breeding and Biotechnology, Gene Center, LMU Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Marlon R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Frank T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Kolligs
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D064200:Cdh1 Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009928:Organ Specificity; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D064200:Cdh1 Proteins; C577585:Fzr1 protein, mouse
keywords: adhesion; cadherins; cancer; development; mouse models