TGF-β inducible epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in renal cell carcinoma

// Sandy Tretbar 1, * , Peter Krausbeck 1, 2, * , Anja Muller 1 , Michael Friedrich 1 , Christoforos Vaxevanis 1 , Juergen Bukur 1 , Simon Jasinski-Bergner 1 and Barbara Seliger 1 1 Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Institute for Medical Immunology, 06112 Halle, Germany 2 State Hospital, Healthcare Centre Glantal, 55590 Meisenheim, Germany * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Barbara Seliger, email: barbara.seliger@uk-halle.de Keywords: epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition; renal cell carcinoma; TGF-β; Smad-signaling pathway; inhibition Received: September 21, 2018      Accepted: February 01, 2019      Published: February 19, 2019 ABSTRACT Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a crucial step in cancer progression and the number one reason for poor prognosis and worse overall survival of patients. Although this essential process has been widely studied in many solid tumors as e.g. melanoma and breast cancer, more detailed research in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is required, especially for the major EMT-inducer transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β). Here, we provide a study of six different RCC cell lines of two different RCC subtypes and their response to recombinant TGF-β1 treatment. We established a model system shifting the cells to a mesenchymal cell type without losing their mesenchymal character even in the absence of the external stimulus. This model system forms a solid basis for future studies of the EMT process in RCCs to better understand the molecular basis of this process responsible for cancer progression.