A causal role for E-cadherin in the transition from adenoma to carcinoma

Anne-Karina Perl, Petra Wilgenbus, Ulf Dahl, Henrik Semb and Gerhard Christofori ()
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Anne-Karina Perl: Research Institute of Molecular Pathology
Petra Wilgenbus: Research Institute of Molecular Pathology
Ulf Dahl: Ume University
Henrik Semb: Ume University
Gerhard Christofori: Research Institute of Molecular Pathology

Nature, 1998, vol. 392, issue 6672, 190-193

Abstract: Abstract Development of malignant tumours is in part characterized by the ability of a tumour cell to overcome cell–cell adhesion and to invade surrounding tissue. E-cadherin is the main adhesion molecule of epithelia1,2,3 and it has been implicated in carcinogenesis because it is frequently lost in human epithelial cancers4,5,6. Re-establishing the functional cadherin complex in tumour cell lines results in a reversion from an invasive to a benign epithelial phenotype7. However, it remained unresolved whether the loss of E-cadherin-mediated cell adhesion was a cause or a consequence of tumour progression in vivo. Here we report that the loss of E-cadherin expression coincides with the transition from well differentiated adenoma to invasive carcinoma in a transgenic mouse model of pancreatic β-cell carcinogenesis (Rip1Tag2)8. Intercrossing Rip1Tag2 mice with transgenic mice that maintain E-cadherin expression in β-tumour cells results in arrest of tumour development at the adenoma stage, whereas expression of a dominant-negative form of E-cadherin induces early invasion and metastasis. The results demonstrate that loss of E-cadherin-mediated cell adhesion is one rate-limiting step in the progression from adenoma to carcinoma.

Date: 1998
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DOI: 10.1038/32433

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