Schneider Marlon R, Kolligs Frank T
Institute of Molecular Animal Breeding and Biotechnology, Gene Center, LMU Munich, Germany.
Bioessays. 2015 Mar;37(3):294-304. doi: 10.1002/bies.201400141. Epub 2014 Dec 2.
Recent studies uncovered critical roles of the adhesion protein E-cadherin in health and disease. Global inactivation of Cdh1, the gene encoding E-cadherin in mice, results in early embryonic lethality due to an inability to form the trophectodermal epithelium. To unravel E-cadherin's functions beyond development, numerous mouse lines with tissue-specific disruption of Cdh1 have been generated. The consequences of E-cadherin loss showed great variability depending on the tissue in question, ranging from nearly undetectable changes to a complete loss of tissue structure and function. This review focuses on these studies and discusses how they provided important insights into E-cadherin's role in cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation, and its consequences for biological processes as epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, vascularization, and carcinogenesis. Lastly, we present some perspectives and possible approaches for future research.
最近的研究揭示了黏附蛋白E-钙黏蛋白在健康和疾病中的关键作用。在小鼠中，编码E-钙黏蛋白的基因Cdh1的整体失活会导致早期胚胎致死，原因是无法形成滋养外胚层上皮。为了阐明E-钙黏蛋白在发育之外的功能，人们构建了许多Cdh1组织特异性缺失的小鼠品系。E-钙黏蛋白缺失的后果因所研究的组织而异，从几乎无法检测到的变化到组织结构和功能的完全丧失。本综述聚焦于这些研究，并讨论它们如何为E-钙黏蛋白在细胞黏附、增殖和分化中的作用，以及其对上皮-间质转化、血管生成和致癌作用等生物学过程的影响提供了重要见解。最后，我们提出了一些未来研究的观点和可能的方法。
