Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, cell polarity and stemness-associated features in malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Abstract

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is the fundamental process by which an epithelial cell loses its epithelial characteristics including cell polarity and acquires mesenchymal and stemness-related features. Therefore, we investigated whether malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPMs) histologies were associated with specific patterns of expression of a selected set of genes related to EMT, cell polarity and stemness features. The association between MPM histologies and genes expression were explored using active and passive Principal Components Analysis-based biplots and PAM analysis that provided evidence that with respect to normal tissues, MPMs histologies were better characterized by specific patterns of expression of genes involved in EMT activation, cell polarity and stemness.

• Authors: Claudia Casarsa, Niccolò Bassani, Federico Ambrogi, Giuliano Zabucchi, Patrizia Boracchi, Elia Biganzoli, Danila Coradini
• Journal: Cancer letters (Cancer Lett) Vol. 302 Issue 2 Pg. 136-43 (Mar 28 2011) ISSN: 1872-7980 [Electronic] Ireland
• PMID: 21300430 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Topics

• Cell Polarity
• Epithelial Cells (metabolism)
• Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (physiology)
• Gene Expression Profiling
• Gene Expression Regulation
• Humans
• Mesoderm (metabolism)
• Mesothelioma (pathology)
• Pleural Neoplasms (pathology)