In:
eLife, eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd, Vol. 3 ( 2014-11-07)
Abstract:
All living things start life as a single cell, but many organisms develop into a collection of different, specialized cells. Most of the cells in an organism can only divide to make more of the same type of cell; however, stem cells are different because they can ‘differentiate’ and develop into several different cell types. A key step in the development of an embryo is called the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, in which an epithelial cell—a cell type that normally lines body surfaces and cavities—begins to crawl away from the tissue it is in and starts to differentiate. This transition also allows cancer cells to leave tumors and spread around the body, in a process known as metastasis. In mammals, two proteins called Musashi1 and Musashi2 are abundant in stem cells and brain cancers, but are rarely found in specialized tissues and cells. Katz, Li et al. now find that the Musashi proteins are also often overexpressed in human breast, lung, and prostate tumors. In addition, Musashi proteins are much less abundant in cells that have completed an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. When Katz, Li et al. artificially reduced the amounts of Musashi proteins in breast cancer cells, the cells migrated and dispersed, as if becoming mesenchymal cells. Furthermore, many of the genes normally used in epithelial cells were switched off. In comparison, artificially increasing the levels of Musashi proteins halted the movement of mesenchymal cells and led to increased levels of genes used in epithelial cells, as if they were reverting to epithelial cells. Therefore, it appears that the Musashi proteins prevent epithelial cells from developing mesenchymal properties. Katz, Li et al. investigated how Musashi proteins work at the molecular level by studying neural and mammary cells in mice. This revealed that Musashi proteins control the steps that lead to the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition by binding to the tail end of the RNA molecules that include the instructions to make certain proteins. This affects how often these proteins can be made from the RNA molecules. Katz, Li et al. suggest that Musashi proteins may similarly control the behavior of progenitor and stem cells in many other tissues as well; however, further study is needed to confirm this.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2050-084X
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.001
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.002
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.003
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.004
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.005
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.006
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.007
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.008
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.009
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.010
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.011
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.012
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.013
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.014
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.015
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.016
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.017
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.018
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.019
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.020
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.021
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.022
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.023
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.024
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.03915.025
Language:
English
Publisher:
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Publication Date:
2014
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2687154-3
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