TY  - JOUR
TI  - Transcriptional regulation of cadherins during development and carcinogenesis
AU  - Peinado, Hector
AU  - Portillo, Francisco
AU  - Cano, Amparo
T2  - The International Journal of Developmental Biology
AB  - The cadherin superfamily of 
Ca2+-dependent homophilic adhesion molecules plays 
a critical role in regulating cell-to-cell interactions. During development, the expression of 
different cadherins is highly dynamic, since they are associated with the morphogenesis, establishment 
and/or maintenance of different tissues. Alterations in cadherin expression or function occur 
frequently during carcinogenesis, such as the loss of the epithelial cadherin (E-cadherin) and/or the 
aberrant expression of other cadherins. Indeed, the aberrant expression of cadherins has been 
detected during carcinoma invasion, a process which is reminiscent of the epithelial-mesenchymal 
transition (EMT) so important in many critical developmental processes. The functional regulation 
of cadherins can occur at many different levels, from transcriptional regulation to the control of 
the strength of the cadherin-mediated cell-cell interaction. In this review, we will focus on 
the transcriptional control of cadherin expression, both in development and carcinogenesis, 
paying particular attention to the regulation of E-cadherin given its proposed role as a suppressor 
of invasion. We will discuss the main genetic and epigenetic mechanisms involved in 
down-regulating E-cadherin expression, and we will analyse the mechanisms involved in regulating EMT, in 
an attempt to elucidate which elements are common to this process in both physiological 
and pathological situations.
PY  - 2004
DO  - 10.1387/ijdb.041794hp
VL  - 48
IS  - 5-6
SP  - 365
EP  - 375
J2  - Int. J. Dev. Biol.
LA  - en
SN  - 0214-6282
SN  - 1696-3547
UR  - https://ijdb.ehu.eus/article/041794hp
Y2  - 2024/11/23/11:52:43
ER  -