Parallels between global transcriptional programs of polarizing Caco-2 intestinal epithelial cells in vitro and gene expression programs in normal colon and colon cancer.

ABSTRACT: Posttranslational mechanisms are implicated in the development of epithelial cell polarity, but little is known about the patterns of gene expression and transcriptional regulation during this process. We characterized temporal patterns of gene expression during cell-cell adhesion-initiated polarization of cultured human Caco-2 cells, which develop structural and functional polarity resembling enterocytes in vivo. A distinctive switch in gene expression patterns occurred upon formation of cell-cell contacts. Comparison to gene expression patterns in normal human colon and colon tumors revealed that the pattern in proliferating, nonpolarized Caco-2 cells paralleled patterns seen in human colon cancer in vivo, including expression of genes involved in cell proliferation. The pattern switched

SUBMITTER: Saaf AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2043540 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature