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Alpha-catenin is required for IGF-I-induced cellular migration but not invasion in human colonic cancer cells

Oncogene volume 23, pages 1177–1186 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

The mechanisms by which growth factors cooperate with cell adhesion molecules to modulate epithelial cell motility remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated the role of the E-cadherin/catenin complex in insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I)-dependent cell migration and invasion. We used variants of the HCT-8 colon cancer family that differ in their expression of αE-catenin, an intracellular molecule that links the E-cadherin/catenin complex to the actin cytoskeleton. Migration was determined using a monolayer wound model and cell invasion by the penetration of the cells into type-I collagen gels. We showed that α-catenin-deficient cells were not able to migrate in cohort upon IGF-I stimulation. Transfection of these cells with α-catenin isoforms (αN- or αT-catenin) restored migratory response IGF-I. These results suggest that α-catenins are involved in the signal issued from the E-cadherin/catenin complex to regulate IGF-I-stimulated migration. In contrast, IGF-I promoted invasion of both α-catenin-deficient and α-catenin-expressing cells, indicating that α-catenin did not participate in the regulation of IGF-I-induced invasion. Inhibition of E-cadherin function by treatment with MB-2 monoclonal antibodies inhibited both IGF-I-dependent cell migration and invasion. Taken together, our results indicate that functional α-catenin is essential for migration but not for invasion, while E-cadherin is involved in both phenomena.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Association de la Recherche contre le Cancer (France), the Société de Secours des Amis des Sciences (France), the Fortis-Bank/Verzekeringen and the Fund for Scientific Research (FWO-Vlaanderen), Brussels, Belgium.

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Author notes

  1. Frédéric André

    Present address: UMR CNRS 6032, Faculté de Pharmacie, 27 Bvd Jean Moulin, Marseille, F-13385, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Experimental Cancerology, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, Ghent, B-9000, Belgium

    Frédéric André, Erik Bruyneel, Marc Mareel & Marc Bracke

  2. Department of Molecular Biology, Molecular Cell Biology Unit, VIB, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Barbara Janssens & Frans van Roy

  3. Inserm U482, Hopital Saint-Antoine, Paris, France

    Christian Gespach

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  1. Frédéric André
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Correspondence to Marc Bracke.

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André, F., Janssens, B., Bruyneel, E. et al. Alpha-catenin is required for IGF-I-induced cellular migration but not invasion in human colonic cancer cells. Oncogene 23, 1177–1186 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1207238

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