E-cadherin downregulation in cancer: fuel on the fire?

The development, maintenance and repair of tissue requires an exquisite bal ance between cell proliferation, cell adhesion and cell motility. Equally, tumour initiation and progression are characterized by not only the abnorma l expression of genes involved in cell proliferation and survival but also by genes responsible for the control of cell adhesion and cell motility. Ce ntral to the process of cell-cell adhesion in epithelial tissues is E-cadhe rin. Loss of E-cadherin function in tumours results in the rapid progressio n of relatively benign adenomas to invasive, metastatic carcinomas. Germlin e mutation of the E-cadherin gene predisposes to diffuse, poorly differenti ated gastric cancer, and its downregulation in sporadic tumours is associat ed with poor clinical prognosis.