Thymosin beta4 triggers an epithelial-mesenchymal transition in colorectal carcinoma by upregulating integrin-linked kinase

Huang HC, Hu CH, Tang MC, Wang WS, Chen PM, Su Y · Oncogene

Tβ4 overexpression produced the classic epithelial-mesenchymal transition — E-cadherin loss, cytosolic β-catenin — through integrin-linked kinase and Akt. ILK is the same signalling node through which Tβ4's cardiac survival effect was reported, so the beneficial and the oncogenic pathways are not separate.

Population

SW480 colon cancer cells; immunohistochemistry in colorectal cancer patients

Intervention

Tβ4 overexpression

Comparator

Parental cells

Limitations

Cell-line mechanism with correlational human immunohistochemistry.