Summary
The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is the breakdown of epithelial cell morphology that gives way to a more mobile, mesenchymal phenotype. Although this process is fundamental to the development of multicellular organisms, it is also a key occurrence in many diseases, including cancers of epithelial origin E-cadherin is a central component of adherens junctions (AJs), which act as structural and signaling hubs in epithelial cells that oppose EMT. The loss of E-cadherin from the plasma membrane is an early indication of EMT and a marker of poor prognosis in many cancers making the trafficking of E-cadherin an area of great interest. Recent work from the authors’ laboratory has established the role of type Iγ phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate 5-kinase (PIPKIγ) in the trafficking of E-cadherin by studying the surface accessibility of E-cadherin in endocytosis and recycling assays. Additionally, immunofluorescence data demonstrated that cells lacking PIPKIγ lost E-cadherin at the plasma membrane. The biochemical and microscopic techniques used to investigate the trafficking of E-cadherin are presented herein.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Nick Schill and Professor Richard Anderson for their editing, advice, and encouragement. This work was supported by R01 GM057549-08 and R01 CA104708-03.
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© 2008 Humana Press, a part of Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
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Wagoner, M.P., Ling, K., Anderson, R.A. (2008). Tracking the Transport of E-Cadherin to and From the Plasma Membrane. In: Vancura, A. (eds) Membrane Trafficking. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 457. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-261-8_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-261-8_20
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