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Epithelial Cells and Cancer: Victims, Villains or Heroes?

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Oncology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2021) | Viewed by 5582

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Texas Tech University at Lubbock, Lubbock, TX, USA

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As our first line of innate defense, epithelial cells are considered sentinel cells, which are prey to a host of potential pathologic events. What types of strategies do epithelial cells employ to correct these perturbations? Are there specific types of perturbations to which they are more susceptible? How do epithelial cells communicate distress? What are the tipping points that cascade epithelial cells to the cancerous state? Within the scope of this Special Issue, articles will explore the extent to which epithelial cells control their fates, that of cells within their microenvironment, and the point at which that control gives way to pathologic micromanipulation.

Assoc Prof. Lauren Gollahon
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Epithelial cells
  • Cancer
  • Microenvironment
  • Communication
  • Cell–cell signaling
  • Regulation

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 8399 KiB  
Article
LINC00885 a Novel Oncogenic Long Non-Coding RNA Associated with Early Stage Breast Cancer Progression
by Martin C. Abba, Romina Canzoneri, Agustina Gurruchaga, Jaeho Lee, Pradeep Tatineni, Hyunsuk Kil, Ezequiel Lacunza and C. Marcelo Aldaz
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(19), 7407; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms21197407 - 08 Oct 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2776
Abstract
Long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 885 (LINC00885) was identified as significantly upregulated in breast ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). The aim of this study was to characterize the phenotypic effects and signaling pathways modulated by LINC00885 in non-invasive and invasive breast [...] Read more.
Long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 885 (LINC00885) was identified as significantly upregulated in breast ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). The aim of this study was to characterize the phenotypic effects and signaling pathways modulated by LINC00885 in non-invasive and invasive breast cancer models. We determined that LINC00885 induces premalignant phenotypic changes by increasing cell proliferation, motility, migration and altering 3D growth in normal and DCIS breast cell lines. Transcriptomic studies (RNA-seq) identified the main signaling pathways modulated by LINC00885, which include bioprocesses related to TP53 signaling pathway and proliferative signatures such as activation of EREG, EGFR and FOXM1 pathways. LINC00885 silencing in breast cancer lines overexpressing this lncRNA leads to downregulation of proliferation related transcripts such as EREG, CMYC, CCND1 and to significant decrease in cell migration and motility. TCGA-BRCA data analyses show an association between high LINC00885 expression and worse overall survival in patients with primary invasive breast carcinomas (p = 0.024), suggesting that the pro-tumorigenic effects of LINC00885 overexpression persist post-invasion. We conclude that LINC00885 behaves as a positive regulator of cell growth both in normal and DCIS breast cells possibly operating as a ceRNA and representing a novel oncogenic lncRNA associated with early stage breast cancer progression. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Epithelial Cells and Cancer: Victims, Villains or Heroes?)
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13 pages, 5493 KiB  
Article
Cell Adhesion Molecule 1 Contributes to Cell Survival in Crowded Epithelial Monolayers
by Man Hagiyama, Ryuichiro Kimura, Azusa Yoneshige, Takao Inoue, Tomoyuki Otani and Akihiko Ito
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(11), 4123; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms21114123 - 09 Jun 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2394
Abstract
When epithelial cells in vivo are stimulated to proliferate, they crowd and often grow in height. These processes are likely to implicate dynamic interactions among lateral membranous proteins, such as cell adhesion molecule 1 (CADM1), an immunoglobulin superfamily member. Pulmonary epithelial cell lines [...] Read more.
When epithelial cells in vivo are stimulated to proliferate, they crowd and often grow in height. These processes are likely to implicate dynamic interactions among lateral membranous proteins, such as cell adhesion molecule 1 (CADM1), an immunoglobulin superfamily member. Pulmonary epithelial cell lines that express CADM1, named NCI-H441 and RLE-6TN, were grown to become overconfluent in the polarized 2D culture system, and were examined for the expression of CADM1. Western analyses showed that the CADM1 expression levels increased gradually up to 3 times in a cell density-dependent manner. Confocal microscopic observations revealed dense immunostaining for CADM1 on the lateral membrane. In the overconfluent monolayers, CADM1 knockdown was achieved by two methods using CADM1-targeting siRNA and an anti-CADM1 neutralizing antibody. Antibody treatment experiments were also done on 6 other epithelial cell lines expressing CADM1. The CADM1 expression levels were reduced roughly by half, in association with cell height decrease by half in 3 lines. TUNEL assays revealed that the CADM1 knockdown increased the proportion of TUNEL-positive apoptotic cells approximately 10 folds. Increased expression of CADM1 appeared to contribute to cell survival in crowded epithelial monolayers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Epithelial Cells and Cancer: Victims, Villains or Heroes?)
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