Project description:Primary objectives: Evaluate the effect of the imipramine treatment on the development of histological manifestations associated with the mesenchymal epithelial transition during the period of time from the analysis of the diagnostic biopsy to the surgical resection intervention.
Primary endpoints: Comparison of the histological traits of invasive tumour front of the surgical tumour resection specimen between the intervention group and the placebo group:1. Fascin1 expression in tumour tissue: It will be analysed by immunohistochemistry and the application of Immunoscore.2. Histological manifestations of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT): Tumour budding, cytoplasmic pseudo-fragments, infiltrating growth pattern and poorly differentiated nests. It will be evaluated by histological analysis.3. Invasive histological manifestations: discontinuous extramural extension, lymphatic, venous and perineural infiltration. It will be evaluated by histological analysis.4. Histological manifestation of the immune response: Peritumoral and intratumour lymphocyte infiltration. It will be evaluated by histological analysis.5. EMT molecular manifestations: FSCN1, SNAIL and SLUG gene expression. It will be evaluated by NGS analysis of the primary tumour.
Project description:Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process by which epithelial cells lose cell-cell contact and gain cancer malignancy such as invasion, stemness, chemoresistance and metastasis. Reverse precess, mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) is also important for colonization. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted from cancer cells are also important for cancer malignancy. To analyze RNAs from cells and EVs during EMT and MET, RNA sequencing was performed using E-cadherin-RFP/Py2T reporter system.
Project description:This model is an expansion of the Regan2022 - Mechanosensitive EMT model (MODEL2208050001); it includes a TGFβ signaling module and autocrine signaling in mesenchymal cells. The expanded 150-node (630 link) modular model undergoes EMT triggered by biomechanical and growth signaling crosstalk, or by TGFβ. As its predecessor, this model also reproduces the ability of the core EMT transcriptional network to maintain distinct epithelial, hybrid E/M and mesenchymal states, as well as EMT driven by mitogens such as EGF on stiff ECM. We also reproduce the observed lack of stepwise MET, in that our model's dynamics does not pass through the hybrid E/M state during MET. We show that in the absence of strong autocrine signals such as TGFβ (not included in this version), cells cannot maintain their mesenchymal state in the absence of mitogens, on softer matrices, or at high cell density. In contrast, potent autocrine signaling can stabilize the mesenchymal state in all but very dense monolayers on soft ECM. This expanded model also reproduces the inhibitory effects of TGFβ on proliferation and anoikis resistance in mesenchymal cells, as well as its ability to trigger apoptosis on soft ECM vs. EMT on stiff matrices. The model offers several experimentally testable predictions related to the effect of neighbors on partial vs. full EMT, the tug of war between mitosis and the maintenance of migratory hybrid E/M states, as well as cell cycle defects in dynamic, heterogeneous populations of epithelial, hybrid E/M and mesenchymal cells.
Project description:This file contains a 136-node modular Boolean network model of EMT triggered by biomechanical and growth signaling crosstalk, linked to a published network of epithelial contact inhibition, proliferation, and apoptosis (MODEL2006170001). This model reproduces the ability of the core EMT transcriptional network to maintain distinct epithelial, hybrid E/M and mesenchymal states, as well as EMT driven by mitogens such as EGF on stiff ECM. We also reproduce the observed lack of stepwise MET, in that our model's dynamics does not pass through the hybrid E/M state during MET. We show that in the absence of strong autocrine signals such as TGFβ (not included in this version), cells cannot maintain their mesenchymal state in the absence of mitogens, on softer matrices, or at high cell density.
Project description:TGF-b1 induces hepatic progenitor cells experience an epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and EGF could reverse this process via mesenchymal-epithelial transition. Yet, the mechanism underline these EMT and MET processes are not clear. The aim of this study is to reveal the genes with significant difference during these EMT and MET process in hepatic progenitor cells.
Project description:After 7 days of culture, a sub-population of breast cancer MDAMB231 cells spontaneously detaches the monolayer and starts to grow in suspension, these cells undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), display anoikis resistance and acquire a metastatic phenotype. These cells, in the presence of adherently growing MDAMB231, continue to grow in suspension whereas, seeded in cell-free wells, are able to adhere again and to form E-cadherin positive and vimentin negative new colonies, suggesting the occurrence of mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET). The expression profiles of these three cell clones (basal, MET and EMT) were investigated by microarray analysis.
Project description:Substantial experimental evidence has shown that dedifferentiation from an epithelial state to a mesenchymal-like state (EMT) drives tumor cell metastasis. This transition facilitates tumor cells to acquire motility and invasive features. Intriguingly, tumor cells at the metastatic site are primarily epithelial, and it is believed that they re-differentiate back to an epithelial state by a process called mesenchymal to epithelial transition (MET). However, there is little in vivo evidence to support the MET process. In this study we show that clonal epithelial tumor cells undergo EMT (including loss of E-cadherin expression) in the primary tumor over time. At the metastatic site the cells show evidence of MET by re-expression of E-cadherin.
Project description:Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) has been associated with cancer cell heterogeneity, plasticity and metastasis. It has been the subject of several modeling effort. This logical model of the EMT cellular network aims to assess microenvironmental signals controlling cancer-associated phenotypes amid the EMT continuum. Its outcomes relate to the qualitative degrees of cell adhesions by adherent junctions and focal adhesions, two features affected during EMT. Model attractors recover epithelial, mesenchymal and hybrid phenotypes, and simulations show that hybrid phenotypes may arise through independent molecular paths, involving stringent extrinsic signals.
Of particular interest, model predictions and their experimental validations indicated that: 1) ECM stiffening is a prerequisite for cells overactivating FAK-SRC to upregulate SNAIL1 and acquire a mesenchymal phenotype, and 2) FAK-SRC inhibition of cell-cell contacts through the Receptor Protein Tyrosine Phosphates kappa leads to the acquisition of a full mesenchymal rather than a hybrid phenotype.
Project description:It has been suggested that breast cancers are driven and maintained by a cellular subpopulation with stem cell properties. These breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) mediate metastasis and by virtue of their resistance to radiation and chemotherapy, contribute to relapse. Although several BCSC markers have been described, it is unclear whether these markers identify the same or independent BCSC populations. Based on established breast cancer cell lines, as well as primary tumor samples and xenografts, we show that BCSCs exist in distinct mesenchymal-like (epithelial-mesenchymal transition, EMT) and epithelial-like (mesenchymal-epithelial transition, MET) states characterized by expression of distinct markers, proliferative capacity and invasive characteristics. The gene expression profiles of mesenchymal-like and epithelial-like BCSCs are remarkably similar across the different molecular subtypes of breast cancer and resemble those of distinct basal and luminal stem cells found in the normal breast. We propose that the plasticity of BCSCs allowing them to transition between EMT- and MET-like states endows these cells with the capacity for tissue invasion, dissemination and growth at metastatic sites. Breast cancer cells from patient were sorted using flow cytometry to select for cells that were ALDH+. Gene expression profiles of these cells were compared with profiles of ALDH- cells.
Project description:The zinc finger e-box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) transcription factor is a master regulator of the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), and of the reverse mesenchymal to epithelial transition (MET) processes. ZEB1 plays an integral role in mediating cell state transitions during cell lineage specification, wound healing and disease. EMT/MET are characterized by distinct changes in molecular and cellular phenotype that are generally context-independent. Posterior polymorphous corneal dystrophy (PPCD), associated with ZEB1 insufficiency, provides a new biological context in which to understand and evaluate the classic EMT/MET paradigm. PPCD is characterized by a cadherin-switch and transition to an epithelial-like transcriptomic and cellular phenotype, which we study in a cell-based model of PPCD generated using CRISPR-Cas9-mediated ZEB1 knockout in corneal endothelial cells (CEnCs). Transcriptomic and functional studies support the hypothesis that CEnC undergo an MET-like transition in PPCD, termed endothelial to epithelial transition (EnET), and lead to the conclusion that EnET may be considered a corollary to the classic EMT/MET paradigm.