The Prevalence and Importance of Epithelial Plasticity in Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Abstract
Metastasis is the leading cause of prostate cancer-associated death. The metastatic cascade is thought to be mediated by phenotypic plasticity, which includes epithelial-mesenchymal transitions and mesenchymal-epithelial transitions (EMT and MET, respectively) in solid tumors. There is a substantial amount of data to support the role of EMT in seeding metastasic sites in prostate cancer, however, less is known about the importance of MET in the metastatic cascade. Previous studies suggest that MET enables the growth of macrometastases outside of the prostate, but whether or not MET is required for metastatic colonization has not yet been addressed. To determine the frequency of MET and, most importantly, whether MET is required for prostate cancer metastasis in vivo, we created novel alternative splicing reporters. Interestingly, we found that in two models of prostate cancer that MET are rare and that prostate cancer metastasis can occur independently of MET. Thus, we conclude that undergoing MET is not a prerequisite of prostate cancer metastasis.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- ADA612748
Entities
People
- Daneen Schaeffer
Organizations
- Duke University