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SMJ // Article

Editorial

The Significance of N-Cadherin Expression in Breast Cancers: An Evolving Story

Authors: Oluwole Fadare, MD

Abstract

The mortality associated with human epithelial malignancies can be attributed primarily to their uncontrolled local growth and their destructive properties at metastatic sites.1 In addition to a wide variety of other attributes, carcinomas are characterized by perturbations in cell-cell adhesions, cell-matrix adhesions, and cell adhesion-mediated signaling.2 Cell-cell adherens junctions are the most important intercellular junctions; they function not just to maintain tissue architecture and morphology, but probably to limit proliferation.3 The classical (type 1) cadherins are tridomain, transmembrane components of the adherens junctions that mediate predominantly homotypic cell-to-cell adhesions in a Ca2+-dependent manner.2–4 The cytoplasmic domains of cadherins are linked to the intracellular actin cytoskeletal network through complex interactions with catenin, and they participate in a wide variety of cellular signaling pathways.2,3 There are now substantial data4,5 that support the long-postulated concept that alterations in the function of cadherins are central components of the acquisition of invasive and metastatic properties by tumor cells.

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