Changes in cadherin expression are instrumental both in embryonic development and disease, underlining the importance of understanding how cadherin expression is controlled. Kidney development is characterized by a mesenchymal-epithelial transition underlain by a cadherin-11 to cadherin-6 switch, the regulation mechanisms of which are presently unexplained. Using transfection and RNA-interference we demonstrate that COUP-TFII (NR2F2) induces down-regulation of cadherin-6 and up-regulation of cadherin-11 in cultured cell lines. Double immunolabeling of mouse embryos provides indirect evidence that COUP-TFII negatively controls the cadherin-11 to cadherin-6 switch underlying the kidney developmental mesenchymal-epithelial transition. Furthermore, we found high expression of COUP-TFII in some gastric and oesophageal adenocarcinomas, correlating with abnormal cadherin-11 expression and suggesting reactivation of embryonic pathways linked to COUP-TFII in these tumors. Altogether, our data shed new light upon the role of COUP-TFII in development and in cancer.
Keywords: Cadherins; Fibrosis; Gastric/oesophageal cancer; Implantation; Kidney mesenchymal–epithelial transition.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.