{"paper_id":"f68e828d-319c-4b99-bfbf-a3469aeabc22","body_text":"Abstract\nPurpose\nE-cadherin, a transmembrane glycoprotein mediating Ca2+-independent homotypic cell–cell adhesion in epithelial cell, plays an essential role in metastasis. It has been postulated that E-cadherin downregulation is a crucial mechanism in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. To evaluate the effect on the cell behavior after knockdown of E-cadherin gene (CDH1) in cultured human endometrial epithelial cells (EECs) isolated from normal endometrium.\nMethods\nEECs were isolated from the endometrial tissues of fertile woman who underwent total hysterectomy due to cervical intraepithelial neoplasia III. CDH1 expression was knocked down by small hairpin RNA. The EECs transfected with empty vector served as control. Transwell assay was used to test EECs migration or invasion. qRT-PCR and western blot were used to detect mRNA and protein levels.\nResults\nThe results showed that knockdown of E-cadherin expression can increase cell migration and invasion, and up-regulate mRNA and protein levels of β-catenin, cyclinD1, and c-myc.\nConclusions\nDown-regulation of E-cadherin expression may activate the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in endometrial cells, which may together participate in the occurrence of endometriosis.\nSimilar content being viewed by others\nReferences\nSampson JA (1927) Peritoneal endometriosis due to menstrual dissemination of endometrial tissue into peritoneal cavity. Am J Obstet Gynecol 14:422–469\nShimoyama Y, Hirohashi S, Hirano S, Noguchi M, Shimosato Y, Takeichi M, Abe O (1989) Cadherin cell-adhesion molecules in human epithelial tissues and carcinomas. Can Res 49:2128–2133\nThiery JP (2002) Epithelial–mesenchymal transitions in tumour progression. 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Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96:5522–5527\nde Mattos RM, Pereira PR, Barros EG, da Silva JH, Palmero CY, da Costa NM, Pinto LF, Gimba ER, Hecht F, Ferreira LB, Machado DE, de Oliveira FL, Nasciutti LE (2016) Aberrant levels of Wnt/β-catenin pathway components in a rat model of endometriosis. Histol Histopathol 31(8):933–942\nMatsuzaki S, Darcha C (2013) In vitro effects of a small-molecule antagonist of the Tcf/β-catenin complex on endometrial and endometriotic cells of patients with endometriosis. PLoS One 8:e61690\nAuthor information\nAuthors and Affiliations\nContributions\nSK: Protocol development. YL: Protocol development and manuscript writing. XZ: Performed the experiments and manuscript writing. RZ: Data analysis. NW: Data analysis.\nCorresponding author\nEthics declarations\nEthics approval\nThis study was approved by Fourth Hospital’s Ethics Committee, Hebei Medical University.\nInformed consent\nInformed consent was obtained from all recruited subjects.\nConflict of interest\nThe authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.\nFunding\nThis work was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 81270673).\nElectronic supplementary material\nBelow is the link to the electronic supplementary material.\nRights and permissions\nAbout this article\nCite this article\nZhu, X., Li, Y., Zhou, R. et al. Knockdown of E-cadherin expression of endometrial epithelial cells may activate Wnt/β-catenin pathway in vitro. Arch Gynecol Obstet 297, 117–123 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-017-4560-0\nReceived:\nAccepted:\nPublished:\nIssue date:\nDOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-017-4560-0","source_license":"CC0","license_restricted":false}