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. 2012:2012:984346.
doi: 10.1155/2012/984346. Epub 2012 Apr 2.

Cell polarity, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and cell-fate decision gene expression in ductal carcinoma in situ

Danila Coradini  1 , Patrizia Boracchi, Federico Ambrogi, Elia Biganzoli, Saro Oriana
Affiliations

Cell polarity, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and cell-fate decision gene expression in ductal carcinoma in situ

Danila Coradini et al. Int J Surg Oncol. 2012.

Abstract

Loss of epithelial cell identity and acquisition of mesenchymal features are early events in the neoplastic transformation of mammary cells. We investigated the pattern of expression of a selected panel of genes associated with cell polarity and apical junction complex or involved in TGF-β-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cell-fate decision in a series of DCIS and corresponding patient-matched normal tissue. Additionally, we compared DCIS gene profile with that of atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) from the same patient. Statistical analysis identified a "core" of genes differentially expressed in both precursors with respect to the corresponding normal tissue mainly associated with a terminally differentiated luminal estrogen-dependent phenotype, in agreement with the model according to which ER-positive invasive breast cancer derives from ER-positive progenitor cells, and with an autocrine production of estrogens through androgens conversion. Although preliminary, present findings provide transcriptomic confirmation that, at least for the panel of genes considered in present study, ADH and DCIS are part of a tumorigenic multistep process and strongly arise the necessity for the regulation, maybe using aromatase inhibitors, of the intratumoral and/or circulating concentration of biologically active androgens in DCIS patients to timely hamper abnormal estrogens production and block estrogen-induced cell proliferation.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Factor analysis in DCIS subgroup. Schematic representation of genes with a loading value <|0.6| characterizing the first (F1) and the second factor (F2). Solid color indicates a positive loading value whereas dashed color indicates a negative loading value. Color correspondence: light yellow, tight junction components; dark yellow, adherens junction components; light blue, polarity complexes components; dark blue, angiogenesis; orange, cell-fate decision; light green, luminal markers and hormone steroid; dark green, basal markers; pink, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, grey, GTPase family members.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Factor analysis in ADH subgroup. Schematic representation of genes with a loading value <|0.6| characterizing the first (F1) and the second factor (F2). Solid color indicates a positive loading value whereas dashed color indicates a negative loading value. Color correspondence: light yellow, tight junction components; dark yellow, adherens junction components; light blue, polarity complexes components; dark blue, angiogenesis; orange, cell-fate decision; light green, luminal markers and hormone steroid; dark green, basal markers; pink, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, grey, GTPase family members.
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