PURPOSE Snail protein is a suppressive transcriptional factor of E-cadherin that mediates cell-to-cell adhesion, tumor progression, and metastases. We explored the expression and function of Snail and its family member Slug in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to identify its role in tumor progression. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND RESULTS Transfection of Snail cDNA in Li-7, endogenous E-cadheri...

The role of Snail and serpin peptidase inhibitor clade A member 1 (serpinA1) in tumorigenesis has been previously identified. However, the exact role and mechanism of these proteins in progression of colorectal cancer (CRC) are controversial. In this study, we investigated the role of Snail and serpinA1 in colorectal cancer (CRC) and examined the mechanisms through which these proteins mediate ...

Snail, a transcriptional repressor of E-cadherin expression, is involved in epithelial-mesenchymal transitions during development. We demonstrate that Snail activity is not restricted to E-cadherin downregulation. Expression of tight junction proteins, including claudin-1, occludin and ZO-1, was downregulated in MDCK cells exogenously expressing Snail protein. Although occludin mRNA levels were...

Down-regulation of E-cadherin marks the initiation of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, a process exploited by invasive cancer cells. The zinc finger transcription factor, Snail, functions as a potent repressor of E-cadherin expression that can, acting alone or in concert with the Wnt/beta-catenin/T cell factor axis, induce an epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Although mechanisms that coo...

Several lines of evidence support an important role for Snail, a transcriptional factor, in breast cancer. Overexpression of Snail has been associated with breast cancer metastasis, although the specific role of Snail in the process remains unclear. To address this issue, the expression levels of Snail, RhoA and fibronectin, as well as MMP-2, were reduced in the breast tumor cell lines MDA-MB-2...

Snail family proteins are core EMT (epithelial-mesenchymal transition) regulatory factors that play essential roles in both development and disease processes and have been associated with metastasis in carcinomas. Snail factors are required for the formation of neural crest stem cells in most vertebrate embryos, as well as for the migratory invasive behavior of these cells. Snail factors have r...

Vertebrate members of the zinc finger transcription factor family related to Drosophila snail are expressed in neural crest and paraxial mesoderm along the left-right axis of the embryo. As simple deuterostomes, echinoderms are an important sister phylum for the chordates. We have identified populations of patterned, nonskeletogenic mesenchyme in the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus by their ex...

Snail, a zinc finger transcription factor, induces an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in various cancer and epithelial cells. We investigated the function of Snail (SNAI1) by downregulating its expression with short interfering RNA (siRNA). Suppression of Snail expression induced cellular senescence in several cancer cells and in normal fibroblast IMR90 cells. Cancer progression is faci...

Patients with pancreatic cancer, which is characterized by an extensive collagen-rich fibrotic reaction, often present with metastases. A critical step in cancer metastasis is epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which can be orchestrated by the Snail family of transcription factors. To understand the role of Snail (SNAI1) in pancreatic cancer development, we generated transgenic mice ex...

Purpose: There are few molecular markers known to predict upper urinary tract urothelial carcinomas (UTUC) prognosis. Snail, which contributes to epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), has been documented in cancer progression, but not clear yet in UTUC. We therefore addressed the expression and biological significance of Snail in UTUC. Experimental Design: To elucidate the biological signifi...