Pygopus-2 over-expression has been reported in several malignancies, such as ovarian, breast, lung and liver cancers. Here we demonstrated that down-regulation of Pygopus-2 by shRNA inhibited hepatic carcinoma cell invasion in vitro and metastasis in xenograft tumor models, which were promoted when Pygopus-2 was over-expressed. Pygopus-2 increased hepatic carcinoma cell invasion and metastasis,...

background: e-cadherin is a calcium-dependent molecule that contributes to intercellular adhesion. its proper functioning is important in the maintenance of epithelial structure and integrity. e-cadherin serves as a very important tumor suppressor. in this study, we aimâ to determineâ the frequencyâ of e-cadherin expression aberrancy and its relationship to theâ biologicalâ behavior of gastric ...

One of the most basic characteristics of cancer cells is the loss of cell-cell adhesion and acquirement of invasive properties. During cancer progression, the regulation and expression of cell-cell adhesion molecules (like cadherins) play a pivotal role. In most invasive tumors, E-cadherin is downregulated and N-cadherin is de novo expressed (known as epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition). Howe...

The Snail transcription factor has been described recently as a strong repressor of E-cadherin in epithelial cell lines, where its stable expression leads to the loss of E-cadherin expression and induces epithelial-mesenchymal transitions and an invasive phenotype. The mechanisms regulating Snail expression in development and tumor progression are not yet known. We show here that transforming g...

background: aberrant methylation of cytosine-guanine dinucleotide islands leads to inactivation of tumor suppressor genes in breast cancer. tumor suppressor genes are unmethylated in normal tissue and often become hypermethylated during tumor formation, leading to gene silencing. we investigated the association between e-cadherin ( cdh1) and estrogen receptor-α (esrα) gene promoter methylation ...

Epidemiological studies have shown that most cases of lung cancers (85%-90%) are directly attributable to tobacco smoking. Although association between cigarette smoking and lung cancer is well documented, surprisingly little is known about the molecular mechanisms of how smoking is involved in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) through epigenetic changes. Here, we show that lung cancer...

BACKGROUND E-cadherin is an adhesion molecule involved in tumour invasion/metastasis. Silencing of E-cadherin by promoter CpG methylation has been shown in both familial and sporadic gastric cancers. Helicobacter pylori is a class I carcinogen in gastric cancer. AIMS This study was undertaken to investigate the association between methylation of E-cadherin and H pylori in gastric mucosa from ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Colon cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors, and its pathogenesis is not fully understood. Transcriptional silencing by DNA methylation is believed to be an important mechanism of carcinogenesis. E-cadherin can suppress tumor cell invasion and metastasis, and is considered as an invasion/metastasis suppressor gene. Inactivation of E-cadherin gene often occur...

Loss of E-cadherin expression is a critical step in the development and progression of gynecological tumors. Study of the precise role of E-cadherin has been hampered by the lack of satisfactory mouse model for E-cadherin deficiency. Likewise, DNA mismatch repair (MMR) is implicated in gynecological tumorigenesis, but knockout of MMR in mice predominantly causes hematologic neoplasms. Here, we ...