Review

Tumor suppressor gene E-cadherin and its role in normal and malignant cells

Nives Pećina-Šlaus

Department of Biology, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Šalata 3, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia

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Cancer Cell International 2003, 3:17doi:10.1186/1475-2867-3-17

Published:	14 October 2003

Abstract

E-cadherin tumor suppressor genes are particularly active area of research in development and tumorigenesis. The calcium-dependent interactions among E-cadherin molecules are critical for the formation and maintenance of adherent junctions in areas of epithelial cell-cell contact. Loss of E-cadherin-mediated-adhesion characterises the transition from benign lesions to invasive, metastatic cancer. Nevertheless, there is evidence that E-cadherins may also play a role in the wnt signal transduction pathway, together with other key molecules involved in it, such as beta-catenins and adenomatous poliposis coli gene products.

The structure and function of E-cadherin, gene and protein, in normal as well as in tumor cells are reviewed in this paper.