Expression of receptors tyrosine kinase c-kit and EGF-R in colorectal adenocarcinomas: is there a relationship with epithelial–mesenchymal transition during tumor progression?

Repression of c-Kit by p53 is mediated by miR-34 and is associated with reduced chemoresistance, migration and stemness

“…We also analyzed the expression of the EMT marker genes E-cadherin and Vimentin as well as the primary transcript of miR-34a upon ectopic c-Kit expression in DLD-1 and SW480 cells ( Supplemental Figure 1C and D ). We did not detect any significant changes of these mRNAs, although recent publications implied a role of c-Kit in EMT [ 43 , 44 ].…”

“…Noteworthy, ectopic c-Kit did not affect the expression of EMT markers, such as CDH1/E-cadherin or Vimentin . This was surprising, since previous publications have linked c-Kit with EMT, which is an important step in the metastatic cascade [ 43 ].…”