Immunohistochemical Analysis of Transcription Factors and Markers of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) in Human Tumors.

Jasamin Ghulam, Christine Stuerken, Daniel Wicklein, Ralph Pries, Barbara Wollenberg, Udo Schumacher

Journal: Anticancer research 2019;39(10):5437-5448

PMID: 31570438

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIM

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a key multi-step process which enables cancer cells to detach from the epithelial primary tumor mass and allows them to metastasize to distant organs. We immunohistochemically analyzed the expression of the transcription factors (TWIST-1, SLUG, ZEB1, ZEB2) and components of the extracellular matrix (laminin-5, fibronectin) which influence the EMT.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Primary human breast (MDA-MB-231), colon (HT29, HCT116), ovarian (SKOV3, OVCAR3) and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell lines (UTSCC2, UTSCC24A) grown as xenografts were immunohistochemically analyzed in vitro and in vivo.

RESULTS

A high SLUG expression was observed in every cancer entity both in vitro and in vivo. ZEB1 and ZEB2 showed a high in vivo expression especially in SKOV3 and in in vitro grown MDA-MB-231 cells.

CONCLUSION

SLUG expression showed the highest expression in all cancer entities investigated. Hence, it presumably represents the master regulator of EMT in these metastatic tumor entities.

Address: Institute of Anatomy and Experimental Morphology, University Cancer Center Hamburg, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany [email protected].; Institute of Anatomy and Experimental Morphology, University Cancer Center Hamburg, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.

DOI: 10.21873/anticanres.13737

Link outs

Free resources

Miscellaneous:

https://assays.cancer.gov/CPTAC-1474

Research Materials:

https://antibodies.cancer.gov/detail/CPTC-ZEB2-1

Subscription / membership required

Full Text Sources:

http://ar.iiarjournals.org/lookup/pmidlookup?view=...

MeSH Terms: Biomarkers, Tumor, Cell Line, Tumor, Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition, Extracellular Matrix, HCT116 Cells, HT29 Cells, Humans, Immunohistochemistry, Transcription Factors, Zinc Finger E-box Binding Homeobox 2, Zinc Finger E-box-Binding Homeobox 1