Author/Editor		Pavlič, Ana; Boštjančič, Emanuela; Kavalar, Rajko; Ilijevec, Bojan; Bonin, Serena; Zanconati, Fabrizio; Zidar, Nina
Title		Tumour budding and poorly differentiated clusters in colon cancer - different manifestations of partial epithelial-mesenchymal transition
Type		članek
Publication year		2022
Volume		str. str.
ISSN		0022-3417 - The Journal of pathology
Language		eng
Abstract		Morphological features including infiltrative growth, tumour budding (TB), and poorly differentiated clusters (PDCs) have a firmly established negative predictive value in colorectal cancer (CRC). Despite extensive research, the mechanisms underlying different tumour growth patterns remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the involvement of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in TB and PDCs in CRC. Using laser-capture microdissection, we obtained distinct parts of the primary CRC including TB, PDCs, expansive tumour front, and the central part of the tumour, and analysed the expression of EMT-related markers, i.e. the miR-200 family, ZEB1/2, RND3, and CDH1. In TB, the miR-200 family and CDH1 were significantly downregulated, while ZEB2 was significantly upregulated. In PDCs, miR-141, miR-200c, and CDH1 were significantly downregulated. No significant differences were observed in the expression of any EMT-related markers between the expansive tumour front and the central part of the tumour. Our results suggest that both TB and PDCs are related to partial EMT. Discrete differences in morphology and expression of EMT-related markers between TB and PDCs indicate that they represent different manifestations of partial EMT. TB seems to be closer to complete EMT than PDCs.
Keywords		colon cancer colorectal cancer epithelial-mesenchymal transition rak debelega črevesa kolorektalni rak epitelno-mezenhimski prehod