The molecular mechanism that regulates epicardial development has yet to be understood. In this study, we explored the function of CDX1, a Caudal-related family member, in epicardial epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and in the migration and the differentiation of epicardium-derived progenitors into vascular smooth muscle cells. We detected a transient expression of CDX1 in murine embr...

We have examined the role that the caudal-related homeobox transcription factors Cdx1 and Cdx2 play in activating the enterocyte differentiation marker gene intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP). Human colon cancer Caco-2 cells were transiently transfected with Cdx1 and/or Cdx2, and semiquantitative RT-PCR was used to study the effects on IAP mRNA expression. Transfections with a variety of IAP...

Cdx1 encodes a mammalian homeobox gene involved in vertebral patterning. Retinoic acid (RA) is likewise implicated in vertebral patterning. We have previously shown that Cdx1 is a direct retinoid target gene, suggesting that Cdx1 may convey some of the effects of retinoid signaling. However, RA appears to be essential for only early stages of Cdx1 expression, and therefore other factors must be...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The mechanism of transformation to intestinal metaplasia in Barrett's oesophagus has not been clarified. We previously reported that bile acids activate the Cdx2 promoter via nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) and stimulate production of Cdx2 protein in oesophageal keratinocytes with a resulting production of intestinal type mucin. In addition to Cdx2, Cdx1 may play an impor...

The Cdx1 gene product is essential for normal anterior-posterior vertebral patterning. Expression of Cdx1 is regulated by several pathways implicated in anterior-posterior patterning events, including retinoid and Wnt signaling. We have previously shown that retinoic acid plays a key role in early stages of Cdx1 expression at embryonic day 7.5 (E7.5), while both Wnt3a signaling and an autoregul...

CDX1 is a transcription factor that plays a key role in intestinal development and differentiation. However, the downstream targets of CDX1 are less well defined than those of its close homologue, CDX2. We report here the identification of downstream targets of CDX1 using microarray gene-expression analysis and other approaches. Keratin 20 (KRT20), a member of the intermediate filament and a we...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Gastric intestinal metaplasia, which is mainly induced by Helicobacter pylori infection, is thought to be a precancerous lesion of gastric adenocarcinoma. Intestinal metaplastic mucosa expresses intestine specific homeobox genes, Cdx1 and Cdx2, in the human gastric mucosa. We and others have reported that ectopic expression of Cdx2 in the gastric epithelium generates intesti...

CDX1 is a homeobox transcription factor that plays a critical role in intestinal epithelial cell growth and differentiation. CDX1 gene expression is tightly regulated in a temporal and cell-type specific manner. However, very little is known about the regulatory mechanisms that direct CDX1 gene expression in the intestine. To elucidate these mechanisms, we employed a series of transgenic mouse ...

The transcription factor caudal-type homeobox 1 (CDX1) is a key regulator of differentiation in the normal colon and in colorectal cancer (CRC). CDX1 activates the expression of enterocyte genes, but it is not clear how the concomitant silencing of stem cell genes is achieved. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important mediators of gene repression and have been implicated in tumor suppression and carcino...

INTRODUCTION Pathogenesis of early-onset preeclampsia (PE) is generally recognized by impaired trophoblast invasion of the myometrial arteries, which results in placental insufficiency. Recently, we reported that CDX1 is hypermethylated in the human preeclampsia placenta. However, whether CDX1 participates in trophoblast invasion has not been clearly elucidated. METHODS We investigated the fu...