In a genomewide anoikis suppression screen for metastasis genes, we previously identified the neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase TrkB. In mouse xenografts, activated TrkB caused highly invasive and metastatic tumors. Here, we describe that TrkB also induces a strong morphological transformation, resembling epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). This required TrkB kinase activity, a functio...

The environment, the on-going global climate change and the ecology of animal species determine the localisation of habitats and the geographical distribution of the various species in nature. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of such changes on snail species not only of interest to naturalists but also of importance to human and animal health. The spatial distribution of freshwa...

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a normal developmental process, is known to play a crucial role in tumor progression. Molecules involved in this process, such as the E-cadherin repressor Snail, facilitate migration and invasion of carcinoma cells. A growing number of studies addressing the expression of Snail in clinical samples have been reported and are discussed in this review. A to...

Vascular branching morphogenesis is activated and maintained by several signaling pathways. Among them, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) signaling is largely presented in arteries, and VEGFR3 signaling is in veins and capillaries. Recent reports have documented that Snail, a well-known epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition protein, is expressed in endothelial cells, where i...

TGF-beta and its signaling mediators, Smad2, -3, and -4, are involved with tumor suppression and promotion functions. Smad4-/- mouse epidermis develops spontaneous skin squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), and Smad3-/- mice are resistant to carcinogen-induced skin cancer; however, the role of Smad2 in skin carcinogenesis has not been explored. In the present study, we found that Smad2 and Smad4, bu...

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a key process involved in the invasion and metastasis of cancer cells. Furthermore, EMT can induce a cancer stem cell (CSC)-like phenotype in a number of tumor types. We demonstrated that Snail is one of the master regulators that promotes EMT and mediates cancer cell migration and invasion in many types of malignancies including head and neck squamous...

Here we demonstrate for the first time that targeted inhibition of nuclear exporter protein exportin 1 (XPO1) also known as chromosome maintenance region 1 (CRM1) by Selective Inhibitor of Nuclear Export (SINE) compounds results in reversal of EMT in snail-transduced primary human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs). SINE compounds selinexor (KPT-330) and KPT-185, leptomycin B (LMB as +ve control)...

We report about field and theoretical studies on the ecology of the aquatic snails (Bulinus spp. and Biomphalaria pfeifferi) that serve as obligate intermediate hosts in the complex life cycle of the parasites causing human schistosomiasis. Snail abundance fosters disease transmission, and thus the dynamics of snail populations are critically important for schistosomiasis modeling and control. ...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression and clinical significance of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α), Snail and E-cadherin in ovarian cancer. The expression levels were assessed in a number of ovarian cancer cell lines and ovarian cancer tissues, and correlations between the expression of the three proteins and clinical pathological factors were analyzed. Transwell a...

introduction: since organophosphorus compounds (op) are toxic and designed to destroy insects and pest species, there are many hazards associated with their use. although, the main target site of these compounds is acetylcholinesterase (ache), however it has become increasingly evident that ops have also other direct effects on cellular processes. in the present study, the effects of low concen...