E-cadherin is highly expressed in epithelial cells. Many think that E-cadherin i
ID: 177187 • Letter: E
Question
E-cadherin is highly expressed in epithelial cells. Many think that E-cadherin is a metastasis suppressor (that it inhibits the ability of cancer cells to spread to another location/tissue). What is the simplest possible explanation as to why E-cadherin prevents tumor cell metastasis? You should be able to answer this one just based upon class and/or a textbook and some clean thinking.
Imagine you are collaborating with an oncologist and that you have access to a collection of cells from patients with cancer of graded severity. Some of the tumor samples are benign ranging all the way to highly metastatic. If the overall hypothesis is correct, that E-cadherin suppresses metastasis, then provide a ridiculously simple experiment to test this hypothesis and what you expect to see. I do not need the experimental details. Tell what basic approach you would use and what you expect to see.
Explanation / Answer
Two sets of experimental conditions are to be prepared, one set of epithelial cells are to be observed for proliferation of normal cells in the absence of E-cadherin and another set of cells has to be observed for the normal growth of cells in the presence of E-cadherin.
Reduced expression of E-cadherin is regarded as one of the main molecular events involved in dysfunction of the cell-cell adhesion system, triggering cancer invasion and metastasis. Therefore, E-cadherin is an important tumor suppressor gene. Research on E-cadherin has elucidated insights into both embryogenesis and oncogenesis. One of the most crucial exhibit of E-cadherin's function in development is the controlled epithelial-mesenchymal conversion.
The involvement of E-cadherin in wnt signaling, indicates that same molecule may have different functions and that E-cadherin can regulate cellular response generated by external signals the cell receives. In this way it can regulate migration, proliferation, apoptosis and cell differentiation.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.