Functional role of gangliotetraosylceramide in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition process induced by hypoxia and by TGF-{beta}.
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ABSTRACT: The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a basic cellular process that plays a key role in normal embryonic development and in cancer progression/metastasis. Our previous study indicated that EMT processes of mouse and human epithelial cells induced by TGF-? display clear reduction of gangliotetraosylceramide (Gg4) and ganglioside GM2, suggesting a close association of glycosphingolipids (GSLs) with EMT. In the present study, using normal murine mammary gland (NMuMG) cells, we found that levels of Gg4 and of mRNA for the UDP-Gal:?1-3galactosyltransferase-4 (?3GalT4) gene, responsible for reduction of Gg4, were reduced in EMT induced by hypoxia (?1% O(2)) or CoCl(2) (hypoxia mimic), similarly to that for TGF-?-induced EMT. An increase in the Gg4 level by its exogenous addition or by transfection of the ?3GalT4 gene inhibited the hypoxia-induced or TGF-?-induced EMT process, including changes in epithelial cell morphology, enhanced motility, and associated changes in epithelial vs. mesenchymal molecules. We also found that Gg4 is closely associated with E-cadherin and ?-catenin. These results suggest that the ?3GalT4 gene, responsible for Gg4 expression, is down-regulated in EMT; and Gg4 has a regulatory function in the EMT process in NMuMG cells, possibly through interaction with epithelial molecules important to maintain epithelial cell membrane organization.
SUBMITTER: Guan F
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2992377 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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