Chronic Ethanol Exposure Induces Early Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) and Premalignant Changes in Gingival Keratinocytes: An In Vitro Model of Very Early Oral Carcinogenesis.

ABSTRACT: Early molecular events underlying ethanol-induced oral squamous cell carcinoma development remain insufficiently understood, primarily due to a lack of suitable in vitro systems that recapitulate the initial stages of premalignant transformation. Therefore, a cell culture model of human gingival keratinocytes representing progressive stages of early ethanol-induced cell transformation was established and comprehensively characterized. The three cell lines, named "gingival keratinocytes" (GK), "epithelioid" (EPI) and "fibroblastoid" (FIB), and their derivatives were analyzed by morphological, cell biological and biochemical methods, with an emphasis on epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related signaling pathways. All cell lines were non-tumorigenic in vitro. Chronic ethanol exposur

SUBMITTER: Dieterle MP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12691217 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature