| First Author | Ruiz-Mitjana A | Year | 2022 |
| Journal | Sci Rep | Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 1 | Pages | 14821 |
| PubMed ID | 36050359 | Mgi Jnum | J:327992 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:7334417 | Doi | 10.1038/s41598-022-18976-1 |
| Citation | Ruiz-Mitjana A, et al. (2022) Lack of extracellular matrix switches TGF-beta induced apoptosis of endometrial cells to epithelial to mesenchymal transition. Sci Rep 12(1):14821 |
| abstractText | The extracellular matrix and the correct establishment of epithelial cell polarity plays a critical role in epithelial cell homeostasis and cell polarity. In addition, loss of tissue structure is a hallmark of carcinogenesis. In this study, we have addressed the role of extracellular matrix in the cellular responses to TGF-beta. It is well known that TGF-beta is a double-edged sword: it acts as a tumor suppressor in normal epithelial cells, but conversely has tumor-promoting effects in tumoral cells. However, the factors that determine cellular outcome in response to TGF-beta remain controversial. Here, we have demonstrated that the lack of extracellular matrix and consequent loss of cell polarity inhibits TGF-beta-induced apoptosis, observed when endometrial epithelial cells are polarized in presence of extracellular matrix. Rather, in absence of extracellular matrix, TGF-beta-treated endometrial epithelial cells display features of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. We have also investigated the molecular mechanism of such a switch in cellular response. On the one hand, we found that the lack of Matrigel results in increased AKT signaling which is sufficient to inhibit TGF-beta-induced apoptosis. On the other hand, we demonstrate that TGF-beta-induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition requires ERK and SMAD2/3 activation. In summary, we demonstrate that loss of cell polarity changes the pro-apoptotic function of TGF-beta to tumor-associated phenotype such as epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. These results may be important for understanding the dual role of TGF-beta in normal versus tumoral cells. |
