TWIST1 a new determinant of epithelial to mesenchymal transition in EGFR mutated lung adenocarcinoma

• Published in: PloS one 2012-01, Vol.7 (1), p.e29954-e29954
• Main Authors: Pallier, Karine, Cessot, Anatole, Côté, Jean-Francois, Just, Pierre-Alexandre, Cazes, Aurélie, Fabre, Elizabeth, Danel, Claire, Riquet, Marc, Devouassoux-Shisheboran, Mojgan, Ansieau, Stéphane, Puisieux, Alain, Laurent-Puig, Pierre, Blons, Hélène
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activation; Adenocarcinoma; Adenocarcinoma - genetics; Adenocarcinoma - metabolism; Adenocarcinoma - pathology; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Antigens, CD - genetics; Antigens, CD - metabolism; Biology; Blotting, Western; Cadherins - genetics; Cadherins - metabolism; Cancer; Cell growth; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Movement - genetics; Chromosome 7; Cooperation; Copy number; Development and progression; E-cadherin; Embryogenesis; Embryonic growth stage; Epidermal growth factor; Epidermal Growth Factor - pharmacology; Epidermal growth factor receptors; Epidermal growth factors; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition - drug effects; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition - genetics; Female; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Genetic aspects; Head & neck cancer; Health aspects; Humans; Hypoxia; Immunohistochemistry; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Kinases; Lung cancer; Lung diseases; Lung Neoplasms - genetics; Lung Neoplasms - metabolism; Lung Neoplasms - pathology; Male; Medicine; Mesenchyme; Metastases; Metastasis; Middle Aged; Mortality; Motility; Mutation; Nuclear Proteins - genetics; Nuclear Proteins - metabolism; Pathology; Patients; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor - genetics; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor - metabolism; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA Interference; Senescence; Smoking; Stem cells; Surgery; Thoracic surgery; Tumor cell lines; Tumors; Twist-Related Protein 1 - genetics; Twist-Related Protein 1 - metabolism
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029954

Metastasis is a multistep process and the main cause of mortality in lung cancer patients. We previously showed that EGFR mutations were associated with a copy number gain at a locus encompassing the TWIST1 gene on chromosome 7. TWIST1 is a highly conserved developmental gene involved in embryogenesis that may be reactivated in cancers promoting both malignant conversion and cancer progression through an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). The aim of this study was to investigate the possible implication of TWIST1 reactivation on the acquisition of a mesenchymal phenotype in EGFR mutated lung cancer. We studied a series of consecutive lung adenocarcinoma from Caucasian non-smokers for which surgical frozen samples were available (n = 33) and showed that TWIST1 expression was linked to EGFR mutations (P