Loss of expression of the E-cadherin cell-cell adhesion molecule is important in carcinoma development and progression. Because previous data suggest that loss of E-cadherin expression in breast carcinoma may result from a dominant transcriptional repression pathway acting on the E-cadherin proximal promoter, we pursued studies of cis sequences and transcription factors regulating E-cadherin ex...

Masataka Saito*, Dana K. Tucker*, Drew Kohlhorst, Carien M. Niessen and Andrew P. Kowalczyk Departments of Cell Biology, Dermatology and the Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA Department of Dermatology, Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging Associated Diseases (CECAD), Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologn...

Cadherins are a family of cell adhesion molecules that exhibit calcium-dependent, homophilic binding. Their function depends on both an HisAlaVal sequence in the first extracellular domain, EC1, and the interaction of a conserved cytoplasmic region with intracellular proteins. T-cadherin is an unusual member of the cadherin family that lacks the HisAlaVal motif and is anchored to the membrane t...

Homophilic binding of E-cadherins through their ectodomains is fundamental to epithelial cell-cell adhesion. Despite this, E-cadherin ectodomains have evolved differently in the vertebrate and insect lineages. Of the five rod-like, tandemly aligned extracellular cadherin domains of vertebrate E-cadherin, the tip extracellular cadherin domain plays a pivotal role in binding interactions. Compara...

The aim of the present study was to examine the characteristics of bladder transitional cell carcinoma with E-cadherin and N-cadherin double-negative expression. An immunofluorescence assay was used to detect E-cadherin and N-cadherin expression in infiltrative bladder cancer tissues, and immunofluorescence and western blot analysis were used to detect E-cadherin and N-cadherin expression in hu...

BACKGROUND N-cadherin is a cell-cell adhesion molecule and deletion of N-cadherin in mice is embryonic lethal. During the secretory stage of enamel development, E-cadherin is down-regulated and N-cadherin is specifically up-regulated in ameloblasts when groups of ameloblasts slide by one another to form the rodent decussating enamel rod pattern. Since N-cadherin promotes cell migration, we aske...

The expression pattern of Eand P-cadherin in human carcinomas has been reported by many laboratories. However, little is known about the involvement of other cadherin types in human carcinomas. cDNA clones for a cadherin molecule were isolated from a cDNA library of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells which lacked Eand P-cadherin expression but exhibited cell aggregation activity mediated by a...

During mammalian embryogenesis the trophectoderm represents the first epithelial structure formed. The cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin is ultimately necessary for the transition from compacted morula to the formation of the blastocyst to ensure correct establishment of adhesion junctions in the trophectoderm. Here, we analyzed to what extent E-cadherin confers unique adhesion and signaling pr...

The contractile force of the cardiomyocyte is transmitted through the adherens junction, a component of the intercalated disc, enabling the myocardium to function as a syncytium. The cadherin family of cell adhesion receptors, located in the adherens junction, interact homophilically to mediate strong cell-cell adhesion. Ectopic expression of cadherins is associated with changes in tumor cell b...