Expression of Inapproptriate Cadherins in Human Breast Carcinomas
Abstract
This is the second year report for my three year IDEA Award. The purpose of this award was to initiate a breast cancer project in my lab. My lab has been focused for many years on the role of cadherin cell adhesion molecules in cellular behavior. Cadherins are cell-surface proteins that play important roles in normal cell-cell interactions. Members of the cadherin family of transmembrane glycoproteins mediate calcium-dependent, homotypic cell-cell adhesion. Numerous studies have implicated E-cadherin as a tumor suppresser protein in carcinomas; i.e., decreased E-cadherin adhesion correlates with a tumor phenotype. The mechanism by which the adhesive function is decreased varies amongst different tumors, but disruption of the function of E-cadherin, regardless of the mechanism, is thought to aid in the formation of a tumor. With this award, I have been able to focus some of my efforts on studying similar questions with regard to human breast cancer cells. Two graduate students focused their efforts on getting the breast cancer project off the ground. Marvin Nieman has been a Ph.D. student in my lab for 4 years and has been studying the effect of dominant-negative cadherins on squamous epithelial cells. He finished up that project and moved on to the breast cancer project. Ryan Prudoff is a masters student in the lab who spent a year working with Marvin on a survey of a large number of breast cancer cell lines for expression of cadherins. In addition, technical help has been provided by Christine Trapp. The effort of these individuals has contributed to our understanding of how cadherin-mediated cell interactions may influence the behavior of breast cancer cells. In particular, our lab has shown that N-cadherin, which is not normally expressed by epithelial cells, promotes motility and invasion when expressed by human breast cancer cells. Both Marvin Nieman and Ryan Prudoff graduated and their work will be continued by Young
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA389587
Entities
People
- Margaret Wheelock
Organizations
- University of Toledo