PCDH8, the human homolog of PAPC, is a candidate tumor suppressor of breast cancer.

ABSTRACT: Carcinoma is an altered state of tissue differentiation in which epithelial cells no longer respond to cues that keep them in their proper position. A break down in these cues has disastrous consequences not only in cancer but also in embryonic development when cells of various lineages must organize into discrete entities to form a body plan. Paraxial protocadherin (PAPC) is an adhesion protein with six cadherin repeats that organizes the formation and polarity of developing cellular structures in frog, fish and mouse embryos. Here we show that protocadherin-8 (PCDH8), the human ortholog of PAPC, is inactivated through either mutation or epigenetic silencing in a high fraction of breast carcinomas. Loss of PCDH8 expression is associated with loss of heterozygosity, partial promoter methyl

SUBMITTER: Yu JS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3013056 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature