Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 5, 2026

An Immunofluorescent Method for Characterization of Barrett’s Esophagus Cells
08:54

An Immunofluorescent Method for Characterization of Barrett’s Esophagus Cells

Published on: July 20, 2014

E-cadherin upregulation as a therapeutic goal in cancer treatment

E W Howard1, K D Camm, Y C Wong

  • 1Department of Anatomy, Laboratory Block, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, 21 Sassoon Road, Hong Kong, SAR, China.

Mini Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry
|May 14, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Restoring E-cadherin, a key protein in cancer progression, can suppress metastasis. Targeting its regulators offers a promising therapeutic strategy for future cancer treatment breakthroughs.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cancer Research

Background:

  • E-cadherin plays a crucial role in cell adhesion and is often downregulated during cancer progression.
  • Loss of E-cadherin function is strongly associated with increased tumor invasiveness and metastasis.
  • Current therapeutic strategies have limited success in directly restoring E-cadherin function.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the role of E-cadherin in cancer progression and metastasis.
  • To explore the therapeutic potential of restoring E-cadherin function.
  • To propose a novel schema for E-cadherin restoration by targeting epigenetic and transcriptional regulators.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of studies on E-cadherin in cancer.
  • Analysis of epigenetic and transcriptional regulatory pathways affecting E-cadherin expression.
  • Development of a conceptual framework for therapeutic intervention.

Main Results:

  • E-cadherin downregulation is a hallmark of metastatic cancer.
  • Epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms significantly influence E-cadherin levels.
  • Targeting these regulators presents a viable strategy for E-cadherin restoration.

Conclusions:

  • Restoring E-cadherin function is a promising strategy to suppress cancer metastasis.
  • Targeting epigenetic and transcriptional regulators offers a novel therapeutic approach.
  • This approach holds potential for significant breakthroughs in cancer treatment.

Related Concept Videos

Cadherins in Tissue Organization01:19

Cadherins in Tissue Organization

The cadherins are a superfamily of cell adhesion molecules comprising over 180 variants, with specific tissues expressing a particular combination of cadherin types. Cadherins generally exhibit homophilic binding; i.e., cadherins on one cell bind to cadherins of the same or closely related type on another cell. Thus, cells of the same type have a specific affinity to bind to each other and sort themselves into clusters to form tissues.
Cell Sorting During Development
Cell sorting plays an...
Structure of Cadherins01:25

Structure of Cadherins

The cadherins were one of the first cell adhesion molecules discovered; the term “cadherins”   is based on their calcium-dependent adhering properties. The first cadherins discovered on the epithelial, neuronal, and placental cells were named E-cadherin, P-cadherin, and N-cadherin, respectively. These classical cadherins share sequence and structural similarities. Other cadherins, including those involved in cell signaling, are grouped into non-classical cadherins. This diversity of cadherins...
Mitogens and the Cell Cycle02:38

Mitogens and the Cell Cycle

Mitogens and their receptors play a crucial role in controlling the progression of the cell cycle. However, the loss of mitogenic control over cell division leads to tumor formation. Therefore, mitogens and mitogen receptors play an important role in cancer research. For instance, the epidermal growth factor (EGF) - a type of mitogen and its transmembrane receptor (EGFR), decides the fate of the cell's proliferation. When EGF binds to EGFR, a member of the ErbB family of tyrosine kinase...
Targeted Cancer Therapies02:57

Targeted Cancer Therapies

The targeted cancer therapies, also known as “molecular targeted therapies,” take advantage of the molecular and genetic differences between the cancer cells and the normal cells. It needs a thorough understanding of the cancer cells to develop drugs that can target specific molecular aspects that drive the growth, progression, and spread of cancer cells without affecting the growth and survival of other normal cells in the body.
There are several types of targeted therapies against specific...
Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathway02:54

Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathway

The gene encoding the main signaling molecules of the Wnt signaling pathways (the Wnt proteins) was discovered almost four decades ago by Nüsslein-Volhard and Wieschaus. They identified and originally named the gene "wingless" (wg) after a phenotype discovered during their landmark genetic screen in Drosophila for body pattern defects. At around the same time, another researcher named Harold Varmus found that a murine tumor virus activates the mammalian wg homolog, Int-1, which results in tumor...
Non-Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathways01:41

Non-Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathways

Wnt is a zygotic effect gene that is expressed during very early embryonic development. It regulates various processes in animals starting from early development through the adult stage, such as organogenesis in the embryo and maintenance of neuronal and blood stem cells. Wnt proteins can induce a wide variety of intracellular pathways depending upon the specific abilities of different Wnt ligands to form a complex with shared and cognate receptors in the presence of different co-receptors. The...