Expression profiling of epithelial plasticity in tumor progression

Jechlinger, Martin; Grünert, Stefan; Tamir, Ido H; Janda, Elżbieta; Lüdemann, Susanna K.; Waerner, Thomas; Seither, Peter; Weith, Andreas; Beug, Hartmut; Kraut, Norbert

doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1206887

Cited by 274 publications

(240 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(92 reference statements)

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“…19 GSEA revealed a significant overlap between the Fra-1-derived gene sets and the genes upregulated in EpRas cells upon TGF-β-induced EMT 21 (Table 1a). Genes associated with c-Myb 29 or with promoters occupied by Smad2/3, 30 two TFs connected to TGF-β and EMT, 31,32 were also enriched (Table 1b) Figure S6a, Figures 5a and b).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…13,14 Ras and TGFβ cooperate to induce and stabilize a mesenchymal switch in EpH4 cells. 21,22,40 Unlike human breast cancer cells where upstream signalling kinases activation is required, 14,16 ectopic Fra-1 expression was sufficient for EMT and tumorigenesis in EpH4 cells. Moreover, Fra-1 increased TGFβ expression and production, similarly to c-Fos and unlike oncogenic Ras, 43 thus TGFβ treatment was not necessary for EMT in EpFra1 cells.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…18 The phenotypic plasticity of this cell line upon Ras/MAPK pathway manipulation has been extensively documented. [19][20][21][22] Expression of c-Fos 18 or cJun 23 in EpH4 cells increases Fra-1 mRNA and promotes EMT. Here we show that ectopic expression of Fra-1 is sufficient to trigger a mesenchymal, invasive and tumorigenic programme in EpH4 cells.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Fra-1/AP-1 induces EMT in mammary epithelial cells by modulating Zeb1/2 and TGFβ expression

et al. 2014

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Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is essential for embryonic morphogenesis and wound healing and critical for tumour cell invasion and dissemination. The AP-1 transcription factor Fra-1 has been implicated in tumorigenesis and in tumour-associated EMT in human breast cancer. We observed a significant inverse correlation between Fra-1 mRNA expression and distant-metastasis-free survival in a large cohort of breast cancer patients derived from multiple array data sets. This unique correlation among Fos genes prompted us to assess the evolutionary conservation between Fra-1 functions in EMT of human and mouse cells. Ectopic expression of Fra-1 in fully polarized, non-tumourigenic, mouse mammary epithelial EpH4 cells induced a mesenchymal phenotype, characterized by a loss of epithelial and gain of mesenchymal markers. Proliferation, motility and invasiveness were also increased in the resulting EpFra1 cells, and the cells were tumourigenic and efficiently colonized the lung upon transplantation. Molecular analyses revealed increased expression of Tgfβ1 and the EMT-inducing transcription factors Zeb1, Zeb2 and Slug. Mechanistically, Fra-1 binds to the tgfb1 and zeb2 promoters and to an evolutionarily conserved region in the first intron of zeb1. Furthermore, increased activity of a zeb2 promoter reporter was detected in EpFra1 cells and shown to depend on AP-1-binding sites. Inhibiting TGFβ signalling in EpFra1 cells moderately increased the expression of epithelial markers, whereas silencing of zeb1 or zeb2 restored the epithelial phenotype and decreased migration in vitro and tumorigenesis in vivo. Thus Fra-1 induces changes in the expression of genes encoding EMT-related transcription factors leading to the acquisition of mesenchymal, invasive and tumorigenic capacities by epithelial cells. This study defines a novel function of Fra-1/AP-1 in modulating tgfb1, zeb1 and zeb2 expression through direct binding to genomic regulatory regions, which establishes a basis for future in vivo genetic manipulations and preclinical studies using mouse models. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a complex biological programme that occurs in physiological processes during embryonic development and wound healing as well as in pathological conditions, such as organ fibrosis and carcinogenesis. During EMT, cells lose epithelial features and acquire mesenchymal characteristics. The acquisition of a mesenchymal state by malignant cancer cells is associated with decreased cell-cell adhesion, and increased migratory and invasive properties, which are crucial for metastasis. [1][2][3][4][5] The adherens junction (AJ) protein E-cadherin, encoded by cdh1, is a central determinant of the epithelial state and its downregulation is the hallmark of EMT. A number of molecular pathways converging on E-cadherin have been implicated in EMT. Transcription factors (TF) of the Snail, Zeb and Twist families, initially identified as regulators of epithelialmesenchymal plasticity during morphogenesis were shown to orchestrate EMT by...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fra-1/AP-1 induces EMT in mammary epithelial cells by modulating Zeb1/2 and TGFβ expression

et al. 2014

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“…The characteristic of EMT is that cells acquire mesenchymal cell markers (eg, N‐cadherin and vimentin) and lose epithelial cell markers (eg, E‐cadherin) 5, 6. EMT occurs during the progression of tumors of various origins, including prostate, breast, hepatic, gastric, pancreatic, and colorectal cancer 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prognostic value of association of OCT4 with LEF1 expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and their impact on epithelial‐mesenchymal transition, invasion, and migration

Zhao

Huang

et al. 2018

Cancer Medicine

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Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a malignant disease with poor prognosis. Because of early metastasis prior to diagnosis and therapeutic resistance, ESCC has become one of the leading causes of cancer‐related death. Here, we investigated the clinicopathological significance of the association of octamer‐binding transcription factor 4 (OCT4) with lymphoid enhancer‐binding factor 1 (LEF1) expression and the potential molecular mechanism in the epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT), invasion, and migration of ESCC. The expression of OCT4 and LEF1 was detected via immunohistochemistry analysis. High levels of LEF1 expression were observed in 95 ESCC specimens and were obviously associated with aberrant clinicopathological features and poor patient prognosis. Our previous study showed that OCT4 expression level is elevated in ESCC, and statistical analysis showed that the elevated expression of OCT4 and LEF1 in ESCC was significantly associated with histologic grade, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, and poor patient prognosis. The specific inhibition of OCT4 expression via a lentivirus encoding OCT4‐shRNA (LV‐shOCT4) in Eca109 cells led to decreased levels of OCT4 and LEF1 in vitro. Additionally, we applied a rescue strategy by infecting LV‐shOCT4 Eca109 cells with a LEF1 overexpression plasmid (p‐LEF1) and detected changes in EMT, migration, and invasion. Unsurprisingly, the p‐LEF1 group exhibited greater EMT, invasion, and migration than did the LV‐shOCT4 and negative control groups. This study demonstrates for the first time the relationship between OCT4 and LEF1 expression. The combination of high expression of OCT4 and LEF1 was associated with clinicopathological features of atypical patients, and this combination might be an ideal prognostic factor in ESCC. OCT4 positively regulated LEF1 expression, and LEF1 mediated the effects of OCT4 in cancer cell EMT, invasion, and migration. The data presented here suggest that the inhibition of OCT4‐LEF1 signaling may be a new therapeutic target for the treatment of ESCC.

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“…[21][22][23] The accumulation of cytoplasmic b-catenin and its translocation to the nucleus has been associated with epithelial cell migration and invasion in various physiological and pathological processes including tumour progression. 21,[23][24][25][26] Several b-catenin/TCF target genes have now been identified. They pertain to various families of proteins including matrix metalloproteases, cytoskeletal proteins or angiogenic cytokines and chemokines (IL-8, MMP-7, MMP-14, CD44, cyclin D1, c-myc, claudin-1, vimentin, MMP26, VEGF.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Transactivation of MCP‐1/CCL2 by β‐catenin/TCF‐4 in human breast cancer cells

Mestdagt

Polette

Butticè

et al. 2005

Intl Journal of Cancer

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The loss of E-cadherin expression and the translocation of b-catenin to the nucleus are frequently associated with the metastatic conversion of epithelial cells. In the nucleus, b-catenin binds to the TCF/LEF-1 (T-cell factor/ lymphoid enhancer factor) transcription factor family resulting in the activation of several genes, some of them having important implications in tumour progression. In our study, we investigated the potential regulation of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1/CCL2) expression by the b-catenin/TCF pathway. This CC-chemokine has been implicated in tumour progression events such as angiogenesis or tumour associated macrophage (TAM) infiltration. We thus demonstrated that MCP-1 expression correlates with the reorganization of the E-cadherin/b-catenin complexes. Indeed, MCP-1 was expressed by invasive breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231, BT549 and Hs578T), which do not express E-cadherin but was not produced by noninvasive breast cancer cell lines (MCF7 and T47D) expressing high level of E-cadherin. In addition, the MCP-1 promoter was activated in BT549 breast cancer cells transfected with b-catenin and TCF-4 cDNAs. The MCP-1 mRNA level was similarly upregulated. Moreover, we showed that MCP-1 mRNA was downregulated after transfection with a siRNA against b-catenin in both BT549 and Hs578T cells. Our results therefore identify MCP-1 as a target of the b-catenin/TCF/LEF pathway in breast tumour cells, a regulation which could play a key role in breast tumour progression. ' 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Key words: MCP-1; b-catenin; breast cancer Chemokines constitute a superfamily of proinflammatory cytokines that are implicated in tumour progression, modulating not only host tumour-specific immunological response but also angiogenesis or tumour cell invasion and proliferation. 1-3 Monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) or CCL2 is a CC-chemokine that specifically attracts monocytes and memory T cells. It has been particularly implicated in processes characterized by mononuclear cell infiltration including breast cancer. 4,5 In some models, MCP-1 has been shown to display an antitumoral effect. 6,7 Nevertheless, a large number of studies demonstrate that MCP-1 facilitates tumour progression through its ability to recruit stromal cells including tumour associated macrophages (TAMs) and endothelial cells. 7-10 A pro-angiogenic role of MCP-1 has been demonstrated in many systems, facilitating tumour growth and dissemination. 8,9,11,12 Moreover, a direct effect of MCP-1 on tumour cell migration in vitro has also been described. 13 Recently, Lebrecht et al. 14 have correlated an increased MCP-1 serum level with an advanced breast tumour stage and the presence of lymph node metastasis. In the same way, Amann et al. 15 reported a significant association between MCP-1 urinary levels and tumour stage and grade. They suggested a use of its urinary level as prognosis marker in bladder cancer. The correlation between MCP-1 expression and a poor prognosis was also demonstrated for the squamous cell carcinoma of the oeso...

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Expression profiling of epithelial plasticity in tumor progression

Cited by 274 publications

References 51 publications

Fra-1/AP-1 induces EMT in mammary epithelial cells by modulating Zeb1/2 and TGFβ expression

Fra-1/AP-1 induces EMT in mammary epithelial cells by modulating Zeb1/2 and TGFβ expression

Prognostic value of association of OCT4 with LEF1 expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and their impact on epithelial‐mesenchymal transition, invasion, and migration

Transactivation of MCP‐1/CCL2 by β‐catenin/TCF‐4 in human breast cancer cells

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