E-cadherin maintains the activity of neural stem cells and inhibits the migration

Cadherins are important adhesion molecules that mediate adhesions and communications between cells. These molecules participate in the formation and maintenance of multicellular organisms including the stem cells. E-cadherin is one of the classic cadherins which is reported to be essential for the survival and self-renewal of embryonic stem cells. Moreover, it could induce cell proliferation inhibitory signaling to regulate cell proliferation. In our study, we over-expressed and silenced E-cadherin in NSCs by lentiviral ways. Transgenic cells were confirmed by both quantitative RT-PCR and western blot. Results of MTT assay showed that over-expression of E-cadherin could enhance the cell activity. Furthermore, we performed Transwell chamber assay to analyze its role in regulation of cell migration. The results showed that the migration percent of over-expression cells was lower than control. Our results indicated that E-caherin would maintain the stemness of NSCs and reduce cells migration.