Cargando…
Visualization of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in an inflammatory microenvironment–colorectal cancer network
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a biological process by which epithelial cells acquire mesenchymal characteristics. In malignant tumors, EMT is crucial for acquisition of a mesenchymal phenotype with invasive and metastatic properties, leading to tumor progression. An inflammatory microen...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group UK
2019
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6841984/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31705021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-52816-z |
Sumario: | Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a biological process by which epithelial cells acquire mesenchymal characteristics. In malignant tumors, EMT is crucial for acquisition of a mesenchymal phenotype with invasive and metastatic properties, leading to tumor progression. An inflammatory microenvironment is thought to be responsible for the development and progression of colorectal cancer (CRC); however, the precise role of inflammatory microenvironments in EMT-related CRC progression remains unclear. Here, we show the spatiotemporal visualization of CRC cells undergoing EMT using a fluorescence-guided EMT imaging system in which the mesenchymal vimentin promoter drives red fluorescent protein (RFP) expression. An inflammatory microenvironment including TNF-α, IL-1β, and cytokine-secreting inflammatory macrophages induced RFP expression in association with the EMT phenotype in CRC cells. In vivo experiments further demonstrated the distribution of RFP-positive CRC cells in rectal and metastatic tumors. Our data suggest that the EMT imaging system described here is a powerful tool for monitoring EMT in inflammatory microenvironment–CRC networks. |
---|