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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Studying TGF-β Signaling and TGF-β-induced Epithelial-to-mesenchymal Transition in Breast Cancer and Normal Cells
Published on: October 27, 2020
Restoring E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion increases PTEN protein level and stability in human breast carcinoma
Zengxia Li1, Liying Wang, Wen Zhang
1Key Laboratory of Glycoconjugate Research, Ministry of Health, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, 138 Yi Xue Yuan Road, Shanghai 200032, China.
Abstract:
The phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) is a well-characterized tumor suppressor that negatively regulates cell growth and survival. Despite the critical role of PTEN in cell signaling, the mechanisms of its regulation are still under investigation. We reported here that PTEN expression could be controlled by overexpression or knock-down of E-cadherin in several mammary carcinoma cell lines. Furthermore, we showed that the accumulation of PTEN protein in E-cadherin overexpressing cells was due to increased PTEN protein stability rather than the regulation of its transcription. The proteasome-dependent PTEN degradation pathway was impaired after restoring E-cadherin expression. Moreover, maintenance of E-cadherin mediated cell-cell adhesion was necessary for its regulating PTEN. Altogether, our results suggested that E-cadherin mediated cell-cell adhesion was essential for preventing the proteasome degradation of PTEN, which might explain how breast carcinoma cells which lost cell-cell contact proliferate rapidly and are prone to metastasis.
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