Tumour-initiating capacity is independent of epithelial-mesenchymal transition status in breast cancer cell lines.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer stem cells (CSCs) are considered to be crucial for cancer biology. The purpose of this study was to determine whether EMT directly led to the acquisition of tumour-initiating capacity in breast cancer cell lines.

Methods

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition was induced in five breast cancer cell lines and one normal breast cell line by EMT-related cytokine stimulation. Mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) was induced by stably overexpressing miR-200c in three mesenchymal-like breast cancer cell lines. Molecular expression and cell function analysis were performed to evaluate the effect of EMT or MET on tumour-initiating capacity and other biological characteristics.

Results

The induction of EMT did not enha

SUBMITTER: Xie G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4021510 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature