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δ-Catenin promotes the malignant phenotype in breast cancer

  • Research Article
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Tumor Biology

Abstract

δ-Catenin is a member of the p120 catenin family. Similar to p120ctn, δ-catenin contains nine central Armadillo repeats and binds to the juxtamembrane domain (JMD) of E-cadherin. We used immunohistochemistry to detect δ-catenin expression in breast carcinoma (128 cases), and δ-catenin mRNA and protein expression was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting (45 cases). The effects of δ-catenin on the activity of small GTPases and the biological behavior of breast cancer cells were explored by pulldown, flow cytometry, methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium, and Matrigel invasion assays. The results showed that δ-catenin expression increased in breast cancer tissues and was associated with a higher degree of malignancy (invasive lobular breast cancer, high tumor-node-metastasis stage, lymph node metastasis, and C-erbB-2+) and poor prognosis. Postoperative survival was shorter in patients with δ-catenin-positive expression than in patients with negative expression. δ-Catenin may regulate Cdc42/Rac1 activity, promote proliferation and invasion of breast cancer cells, and alter cell cycle progression. We conclude that δ-catenin tends to overexpress in breast carcinoma and promotes the malignant phenotype.

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Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank Dr. Shun-ichi Nakamura at Kobe University, Japan, for kindly providing pCMV5-FLAG/δ-catenin. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 81101779 to Di Zhang, MD; no. 30870977 and 81071905 to En-Hua Wang, MD; no. 81201844 to Jun-Yi Zhang, MD; no. 81372338 to Shu-Li Liu).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital and College of Basic Medical Sciences of China Medical University, Shenyang, 110001, China

    Di Zhang & En-Hua Wang

  2. Department of Pathology, The Medical School and The Affiliated Hospital of Chifeng College, Chifeng, China

    Jun-Yi Zhang

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  1. Di Zhang
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  2. Jun-Yi Zhang
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  3. En-Hua Wang
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Correspondence to En-Hua Wang.

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Zhang, D., Zhang, JY. & Wang, EH. δ-Catenin promotes the malignant phenotype in breast cancer. Tumor Biol. 36, 569–575 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-014-2680-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-014-2680-8

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