PTEN suppresses epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer stem cell activity by downregulating Abi1.

ABSTRACT: The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an embryonic program frequently reactivated during cancer progression and is implicated in cancer invasion and metastasis. Cancer cells can also acquire stem cell properties to self-renew and give rise to new tumors through the EMT. Inactivation of the tumor suppressor PTEN has been shown to induce the EMT, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are less understood. In this study, we reconstituted PTEN-deficient breast cancer cells with wild-type and mutant PTEN, demonstrating that restoration of PTEN expression converted cancer cells with mesenchymal traits to an epithelial phenotype and inhibited cancer stem cell (CSC) activity. The protein rather than the lipid phosphatase activity of PTEN accounts for the reversal of the EMT. PTEN dephosp

SUBMITTER: Qi Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7391766 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature