| Summary: | These studies have focused upon role(s) of the calcium-dependent cell adhesion
molecules, known as the cadherins, in ovarian cancer. Recent studies have characterized
one of the cadherins, E-cadherin, as a tumour suppressor gene. The normal human
ovarian surface epithelium, as well as primary ovarian tumours, has been shown to
express this cadherin subtype. Although E-cadherin expression levels are high in ovarian
surface epithelial cells undergoing neoplastic transformation, there is a marked reduction
in the expression levels of this cell adhesion molecule with progression to later stages of
the disease state when the tumour cells acquire the ability to detach from the primary
tumour. This in turn allows the cells to disseminate into the peritoneal cavity and
subsequently interact with the mesothelial cells of the peritoneum. In our studies, we
have found that P-cadherin is the predominant cadherin subtype present in ovarian tumor
cell aggregates recovered from the ascites of patients. Interestingly, we have also
determined that normal human peritoneal cells express P-cadherin which raises the
possibility that this cell adhesion molecule plays an important role in the progression to
the late stages of the disease state by mediating, at least in part, ovarian surface epithelial
tumour-peritoneal cells interactions. We believe that these studies give us novel insight
into the role(s) of the cadherins in ovarian cancer.
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