Introduction & Objective: The transition from epithelial to mesenchymal phenotype or EMT plays an essential role in tumor progression and metastasis in diverse solid tumors like breast cancer, cervical cancer pancreatic cancer etc. EMT is tightly regulated by the biophysical and biochemical tissue microenvironment, through signals that maintain or abrogate the apical-basal polarity of epithelial cells In this study we explored the relative expression of EMT associated genes in patients of renal cell carcinoma.
Methods:
Surgical specimens of tumor and adjoining normal looking parenchyma were collected from patients undergoing partial or radical nephrectomy for kidney tumor with their written consent. Histological diagnosis was done for confirmation of RCC. Expression of E-cadherin, Vimentin and Snail were analyzed by Real time PCR. In vitro culture of the tissue was done to study the cell invasiveness during EMT.
Results and conclusion:
Gene expression analysis in patients showed 0.5 fold decrease in expression of E-Cadherin in tumor tissue as compared to its adjoining normal kidney tissue. (p< 0.0048). Vimentin was found to be upregulated by 5.9 folds (p<0.0012) while Snail expression increased by 3.8 fold (p < 0.06) in tumor tissue as compared to adjoining normal kidney tissue. EMT was also confirmed by in vitro culture of cells from normal looking parenchyma and tumor tissue. Immunohistochemical analysis was done for EMT signature proteins which showed an increase in cells from the tumor tissue. The tumor cells also showed increased invasiveness.