BACKGROUND Hypermethylation is studied as a new, relevant mechanism for silencing tumor suppressor genes. It is a potentially reversible epigenetic change and it is the target of novel anticancer compounds with demethylating activity. In this perspective, we investigated E-cadherin gene (CDH1) promoter hypermethylation in gastric carcinomas and its correlation with E-cadherin protein expression...

Recent studies have shown that microRNA (miRNA) regulates gene expression by repressing translation or directing sequence-specific degradation of complementary mRNA. Here, we report new evidence in which miRNA may also function to induce gene expression. By scanning gene promoters in silico for sequences complementary to known miRNAs, we identified a putative miR-373 target site in the promoter...

Vascular endothelial-cadherin (VE-cadherin) is a calcium-dependent adhesive molecule, exclusively and constitutively expressed in endothelial cells. Analysis of the VE-cadherin promoter fused to a reporter gene in bovine aortic endothelial cells showed three major functional regions. The proximal region alone (-139, +24) promoted nonspecific transcription; the addition of the (-289, -140) and (...

DNA cytosine-5 methylation plays a vital role in regulating the expression of E-cadherin, which is encoded by the CDH1 gene. In this study, we characterised the DNA methylation and expression pattern of CDH1 in an extravillous trophoblast cell line (HTR-8/SVneo) and two trophoblast cell lines -- JEG-3 and JAR. Promoter hypermethylation with reduced E-cadherin expression in HTR-8/SVneo cells and...

Breast cancers are highly heterogeneous but can be grouped into subtypes based on several criteria, including level of expression of certain markers. Claudin-low breast cancer (CLBC) is associated with early metastasis and resistance to chemotherapy, while gene profiling indicates it is characterized by the expression of markers of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) - a phenotypic conversi...

The methylation status of genes in hydatidiform mole and choriocarcinoma and its significance is relatively unexplored. We investigated the methylation status of the promoter regions of six genes, p16, HIC-1, TIMP3, GSTP1, death-associated protein kinase (DAPK), and E-cadherin in 54 hydatidiform moles, five choriocarcinomas, and 10 first trimester placenta by methylation-specific polymerase cha...

E-Cadherin, a cell adhesion molecule, which plays a key role in maintaining the epithelial phenotype, is regarded as an invasion-suppressor gene in light of accumulating evidence from in vitro experiments and clinical observations. In an attempt to clarify the mechanism responsible for inactivation of this gene in carcinomas, we investigated the methylation state around the promoter region by d...

P-Cadherin is a member of the cadherin family of cell surface glycoproteins that mediate Ca2+-dependent cell-cell adhesion and is expressed in a differential fashion in normal epithelial tissues. The expression of P-cadherin in human prostate cancer development has not been investigated previously. By immunohistochemistry, we show that P-cadherin expression is restricted to the cell-cell border...

We recently demonstrated that Interferon Regulatory Factor 6 (IRF6) is a transcription factor essential for keratinocyte adhesion. Specifically, it required the recycling and delivery of E-cadherin to plasma membrane. Interestingly, total levels were not altered in absence IRF6, under culture conditions used test adhesion behavior, IRF6 was detected nucleus. protein includes DNA binding domain ...

To discover the molecular mechanism of N-Myc downstream-regulated gene 2 (NDRG2), a newly found differentiation-related tumor suppressor, the relationships between NDRG2 and E-cadherin were investigated in tumor cells and tissues. Positive correlations between the expression of E-cadherin and NDRG2 were shown in several colon cancer cell lines as well as in colon cancer tissues. According to th...