E-cadherin is highly expressed in epithelial cells. Many think that E-cadherin i
ID: 179615 • 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
In metastasis, the cancerous cells lose their connection with the surrounding tissue and become freely movable; now, these cells can move to some other site in the body, spreading cancer to various regions.
E-cadherin are a type of transmembrane proteins. They are calcium dependent junctions, which help in binding of tissues to cells. They prevent cancer cells from losing their connection with the surrounding tissue. As a result, the cancer remains localized in a particular area; which can be later removed by surgery. Thus, E-cadherin prevent spread of cancer/ metastasis.
Experiment:
If E-cadherin is inhibiting cancer, then the number of cancerous cells in the second case should increase.
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