API

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Relationship: 3199

Title

A descriptive phrase which clearly defines the two KEs being considered and the sequential relationship between them (i.e., which is upstream, and which is downstream). More help

beta-catenin activation leads to EMT

Upstream event
The causing Key Event (KE) in a Key Event Relationship (KER). More help
beta-catenin activation
Downstream event
The responding Key Event (KE) in a Key Event Relationship (KER). More help
EMT

Key Event Relationship Overview

The utility of AOPs for regulatory application is defined, to a large extent, by the confidence and precision with which they facilitate extrapolation of data measured at low levels of biological organisation to predicted outcomes at higher levels of organisation and the extent to which they can link biological effect measurements to their specific causes.Within the AOP framework, the predictive relationships that facilitate extrapolation are represented by the KERs. Consequently, the overall WoE for an AOP is a reflection in part, of the level of confidence in the underlying series of KERs it encompasses. Therefore, describing the KERs in an AOP involves assembling and organising the types of information and evidence that defines the scientific basis for inferring the probable change in, or state of, a downstream KE from the known or measured state of an upstream KE. More help

AOPs Referencing Relationship

AOP Name Adjacency Weight of Evidence Quantitative Understanding Point of Contact Author Status OECD Status
Increases in cellular reactive oxygen species and chronic reactive oxygen species leading to human treatment-resistant gastric cancer adjacent Moderate Moderate Agnes Aggy (send email) Open for comment. Do not cite Under Review

Taxonomic Applicability

Latin or common names of a species or broader taxonomic grouping (e.g., class, order, family) that help to define the biological applicability domain of the KER.In general, this will be dictated by the more restrictive of the two KEs being linked together by the KER.  More help
Term Scientific Term Evidence Link
Homo sapiens Homo sapiens High NCBI

Sex Applicability

An indication of the the relevant sex for this KER. More help
Sex Evidence
Unspecific High

Life Stage Applicability

An indication of the the relevant life stage(s) for this KER.  More help
Term Evidence
All life stages High

Key Event Relationship Description

Provides a concise overview of the information given below as well as addressing details that aren’t inherent in the description of the KEs themselves. More help

Beta-catenin activation, of which mechanism include the stabilization of the dephosphorylated beta-catenin and translocation of beta-catenin into the nucleus, induce the formation of beta-catenin-TCF complex and transcription of transcription factors such as Snail, Zeb and Twist (Clevers & Nusse, 2012) (Ahmad et al., 2012; Pearlman, Montes de Oca, Pal, & Afaq, 2017; Sohn et al., 2019; Yang et al., 2019).

EMT-related transcription factors including Snail, ZEB and Twist are up-regulated in cancer cells (Diaz, Vinas-Castells, & Garcia de Herreros, 2014). The transcription factors such as Snail, ZEB and Twist bind to E-cadherin (CDH1) promoter and inhibit the CDH1 transcription via the consensus E-boxes (5’-CACCTG-3’ or 5’-CAGGTG-3’), which leads to EMT (Diaz et al., 2014).

Evidence Collection Strategy

Include a description of the approach for identification and assembly of the evidence base for the KER. For evidence identification, include, for example, a description of the sources and dates of information consulted including expert knowledge, databases searched and associated search terms/strings.  Include also a description of study screening criteria and methodology, study quality assessment considerations, the data extraction strategy and links to any repositories/databases of relevant references.Tabular summaries and links to relevant supporting documentation are encouraged, wherever possible. More help

Evidence Supporting this KER

Addresses the scientific evidence supporting KERs in an AOP setting the stage for overall assessment of the AOP. More help
Biological Plausibility
Addresses the biological rationale for a connection between KEupstream and KEdownstream.  This field can also incorporate additional mechanistic details that help inform the relationship between KEs, this is useful when it is not practical/pragmatic to represent these details as separate KEs due to the difficulty or relative infrequency with which it is likely to be measured.   More help

The treatment of human gastric cancer cells with INC280, which inhibits c-MET overexpressed in diffuse-type gastric cancer with poor prognosis, shows downregulation in beta-catenin and Snail expression,(Sohn et al., 2019).

The treatment with garcinol, a polyisoprenylated benzophenone derivative that is obtained from Garcinia indica extract, induced ZEB1 and ZEB2 down-regulation, increase in phosphorylated beta-catenin, and decrease in nuclear beta-catenin in human breast cancer cells (Ahmad et al., 2012).

Sortilin, a member of the Vps10p sorting receptor family which is highly expressed in high-grade malignant glioma, positively regulates GSK-3beta/beta-catenin/Twist signaling pathway in glioblastoma (Yang et al., 2019).

TM4SF1 promotes EMT via Wnt/beta-catenin/SOX2 pathway in colorectal cancer (Yang et al., 2020).

The transcription factors such as Snail, Zeb, and Twist inhibit the CDH1 expression through their binding towards the promoter of CDH1, which leads to inhibition of cell adhesion and EMT (Diaz et al., 2014)

Uncertainties and Inconsistencies
Addresses inconsistencies or uncertainties in the relationship including the identification of experimental details that may explain apparent deviations from the expected patterns of concordance. More help

It is possible that the inhibition of ZEB1 and ZEB2 by garcinol treatment is caused by down-regulation of NFkappaB and Wnt/beta-catenin signaling (Ahmad et al., 2012).

The EMT is induced different transcription factors other than Zeb, Twist, and Snail, which includes E47 and KLF8 (Diaz et al., 2014).

Zeb, Twist, and Snail may activate or inactivate different genes or molecules to induce phenomena related to EMT and other phenomena other than EMT (Li & Balazsi, 2018).

Known modulating factors

This table captures specific information on the MF, its properties, how it affects the KER and respective references.1.) What is the modulating factor? Name the factor for which solid evidence exists that it influences this KER. Examples: age, sex, genotype, diet 2.) Details of this modulating factor. Specify which features of this MF are relevant for this KER. Examples: a specific age range or a specific biological age (defined by...); a specific gene mutation or variant, a specific nutrient (deficit or surplus); a sex-specific homone; a certain threshold value (e.g. serum levels of a chemical above...) 3.) Description of how this modulating factor affects this KER. Describe the provable modification of the KER (also quantitatively, if known). Examples: increase or decrease of the magnitude of effect (by a factor of...); change of the time-course of the effect (onset delay by...); alteration of the probability of the effect; increase or decrease of the sensitivity of the downstream effect (by a factor of...) 4.) Provision of supporting scientific evidence for an effect of this MF on this KER. Give a list of references.  More help

The proto-oncogene MET regulates beta-catenin and Snail expression (Sohn et al., 2019).

The inhibition of GSK3beta by SB216763 induced expression of beta-catenin and Twist, as well as mesenchymal markers such as N-cadherin, vimentin, and MMP9 (Yang et al., 2019).

The decrease in E-cadherin (CDH1), a cell adhesion molecule, is related to EMT (Diaz et al., 2014).

Methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) modulates methylation of Snail (SNAI1) mRNA and EMT (Lin et al., 2019).

The binding of beta-catenin to members of the TCF/LEF family transcription factors increase gene expression related to EMT such as Twist and decrease E-cadherin protein expression (Qualtrough, Rees, Speight, Williams, & Paraskeva, 2015).

Response-response Relationship
Provides sources of data that define the response-response relationships between the KEs.  More help

The treatment with AF38469, a sortilin inhibitor, in 0, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600 nM concentration inhibited beta-catenin and Twist (EMT regulator) expression dose-dependently in human glioblastoma cells (Yang et al., 2019).

Snail (SNAI1, a key transcription factor of EMT induced by beta-catenin) mRNA is methylated, and N6-methyladenosine (m6A) in its coding region (CDS) and 3’ untranslated region (3’UTR) are significantly enriched during EMT progression (Lin et al., 2019). The m6A enrichment fold of SNAI1 mRNA in EMT cells is about 2.3-fold greater than in control cells (Lin et al., 2019).

Time-scale
Information regarding the approximate time-scale of the changes in KEdownstream relative to changes in KEupstream (i.e., do effects on KEdownstream lag those on KEupstream by seconds, minutes, hours, or days?). More help

Nuclear accumulation of beta-catenin induces endogenous ZEB1 in 15 and 30 min (Sanchez-Tillo E et al., 2011).

The treatment with 25 uM of garcinol for 48 hours induced an increase in phosphorylated beta-catenin and decreased nuclear beta-catenin protein and ZEB1/ZEB2 mRNA in human breast cancer cells (Ahmad et al., 2012).

The treatment with AF38469, a sortilin inhibitor, for 0, 2, 4, 8, 16, or 24 hours shows that the expression of beta-catenin and Twist decrease in 8 hours followed by the subsequent decrease in 16 and 24 hours in human glioblastoma cells (Yang et al., 2019).

Snail (SNAI1) transfection for 48 hours induces the repression of E-cadherin (CDH1) protein expression (Lin et al., 2019).

SNAI1 mRNA in polysome is up-regulated in EMT-undergoing HeLa cells treated with 10 ng/ml of TGF-beta for 3 days compared with control cells (Lin et al., 2019).

Known Feedforward/Feedback loops influencing this KER
Define whether there are known positive or negative feedback mechanisms involved and what is understood about their time-course and homeostatic limits. More help

The inhibited expression of phosphorylated GSK3beta, beta-catenin, and Twist by sortilin inhibition is reversed by GSK3beta inhibition. Furthermore, twist overexpression by lentivirus increased the inhibited expression of N-cadherin, MMP9, and vimentin and reverses the inhibitory effect of AF38469 on sortilin, which suggests that sortilin induces glioblastoma invasion mainly via GSK3beta/beta-catenin/Twist induced mesenchymal transition (Yang et al., 2019).

The inhibition of Hedgehog signaling pathway with cyclopamine reduces beta-catenin-TCF transcriptional activity, decreases the Twist expression, induces E-cadherin expression, and inhibits EMT (Qualtrough et al., 2015).

Domain of Applicability

A free-text section of the KER description that the developers can use to explain their rationale for the taxonomic, life stage, or sex applicability structured terms. More help
  • The inhibition of c-MET decreases the expression of beta-catenin and Snail in human diffuse-type gastric cancer (Homo sapiens) (Sohn et al., 2019).
  • The treatment with garcinol decreases the expression of beta-catenin and ZEB1/ZEB2 in human breast cancer cells (Homo sapiens) (Ahmad et al., 2012).
  • Zeb1 activation leads to EMT via Prex1 activation in NCH421k, NCH441, and NCH644 human glioblastoma model cells (Homo sapiens) (Rosmaninho et al., 2018).
  • Zeb1 siRNA induced the suppression of EMT in SGC-7901 human gastric cancer cell line (Homo sapiens) (Xue et al., 2019). Snail induces EMT in SAS and HSC-4 human head and neck squamous cancer cells (Homo sapiens) (Ota et al., 2016).
  • Snail induces EMT in B16-F10 murine melanoma cells (Mus musculus) (Kudo-Saito, Shirako, Takeuchi, & Kawakami, 2009; Wang, Shi, Chai, Ying, & Zhou, 2013).
  • Twist1 is related to EMT in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cell lines (Homo sapiens) (Menendez-Menendez et al., 2019).
  • Twist induces EMT in Huh7 human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (Homo sapiens) (Hu et al., 2019).

References

List of the literature that was cited for this KER description. More help

Ahmad, A., Sarkar, S. H., Bitar, B., Ali, S., Aboukameel, A., Sethi, S., . . . Sarkar, F. H. (2012). Garcinol regulates EMT and Wnt signaling pathways in vitro and in vivo, leading to anticancer activity against breast cancer cells. Mol Cancer Ther, 11(10), 2193-2201. doi:10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-12-0232-T

Batlle, E., Sancho, E., Francí, C., Domínguez, D., Monfar, M., Baulida, J., & García de Herreros, A. (2000). The transcription factor Snail is a repressor of E-cadherin gene expression in epithelial tumour cells. Nature Cell Biology, 2(2), 84-89. doi:10.1038/35000034

Clevers, H., & Nusse, R. (2012). Wnt/beta-catenin signaling and disease. Cell, 149(6), 1192-1205. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2012.05.012

Diaz, V. M., Vinas-Castells, R., & Garcia de Herreros, A. (2014). Regulation of the protein stability of EMT transcription factors. Cell Adh Migr, 8(4), 418-428. doi:10.4161/19336918.2014.969998

Hu, B., Cheng, J. W., Hu, J. W., Li, H., Ma, X. L., Tang, W. G., . . . Yang, X. R. (2019). KPNA3 Confers Sorafenib Resistance to Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma via TWIST Regulated Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition. Journal of Cancer, 10(17), 3914-3925. doi:10.7150/jca.31448

Kudo-Saito, C., Shirako, H., Takeuchi, T., & Kawakami, Y. (2009). Cancer Metastasis Is Accelerated through Immunosuppression during Snail-Induced EMT of Cancer Cells. Cancer Cell, 15(3), 195-206. doi:10.1016/j.ccr.2009.01.023

Li, C., & Balazsi, G. (2018). A landscape view on the interplay between EMT and cancer metastasis. NPJ Syst Biol Appl, 4, 34. doi:10.1038/s41540-018-0068-x

Lin, X., Chai, G., Wu, Y., Li, J., Chen, F., Liu, J., . . . Wang, H. (2019). RNA m(6)A methylation regulates the epithelial mesenchymal transition of cancer cells and translation of Snail. Nat Commun, 10(1), 2065. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09865-9

Menendez-Menendez, J., Hermida-Prado, F., Granda-Diaz, R., Gonzalez, A., Garcia-Pedrero, J. M., Del-Rio-Ibisate, N., . . . Martinez-Campa, C. (2019). Deciphering the Molecular Basis of Melatonin Protective Effects on Breast Cells Treated with Doxorubicin: TWIST1 a Transcription Factor Involved in EMT and Metastasis, a Novel Target of Melatonin. Cancers (Basel), 11(7). doi:10.3390/cancers11071011

Ota, I., Masui, T., Kurihara, M., Yook, J. I., Mikami, S., Kimura, T., . . . Kitahara, T. (2016). Snail-induced EMT promotes cancer stem cell-like properties in head and neck cancer cells. Oncol Rep, 35(1), 261-266. doi:10.3892/or.2015.4348

Pearlman, R. L., Montes de Oca, M. K., Pal, H. C., & Afaq, F. (2017). Potential therapeutic targets of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in melanoma. Cancer Lett, 391, 125-140. doi:10.1016/j.canlet.2017.01.029

Peinado, H., Olmeda, D., & Cano, A. (2007). Snail, Zeb and bHLH factors in tumour progression: an alliance against the epithelial phenotype? Nat Rev Cancer, 7(6), 415-428. doi:10.1038/nrc2131

Qualtrough, D., Rees, P., Speight, B., Williams, A. C., & Paraskeva, C. (2015). The Hedgehog Inhibitor Cyclopamine Reduces beta-Catenin-Tcf Transcriptional Activity, Induces E-Cadherin Expression, and Reduces Invasion in Colorectal Cancer Cells. Cancers (Basel), 7(3), 1885-1899. doi:10.3390/cancers7030867

Rosmaninho, P., Mükusch, S., Piscopo, V., Teixeira, V., Raposo, A. A., Warta, R., . . . Castro, D. S. (2018). Zeb1 potentiates genome-wide gene transcription with Lef1 to promote glioblastoma cell invasion. The EMBO Journal, 37(15), e97115. doi:10.15252/embj.201797115

Sanchez-Tillo E, de Barrios O, Siles L, Cuatrecasas M, Castells A, Postigo A. beta-catenin/TCF4 complex induces the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-activator ZEB1 to regulate tumor invasiveness. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2011;108(48):19204-9.

Sohn, S. H., Kim, B., Sul, H. J., Kim, Y. J., Kim, H. S., Kim, H., . . . Zang, D. Y. (2019). INC280 inhibits Wnt/beta-catenin and EMT signaling pathways and its induce apoptosis in diffuse gastric cancer positive for c-MET amplification. BMC Res Notes, 12(1), 125. doi:10.1186/s13104-019-4163-x

Tang Q, Chen J, Di Z, Yuan W, Zhou Z, Liu Z, Han S, Liu Y, Ying G, Shu X, Di M. TM4SF1 promotes EMT and cancer stemness via the Wnt/β-catenin/SOX2 pathway in colorectal cancer. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2020 Nov 5;39(1):232. doi: 10.1186/s13046-020-01690-z. PMID: 33153498; PMCID: PMC7643364.

Wang, Y., Shi, J., Chai, K., Ying, X., & Zhou, B. P. (2013). The Role of Snail in EMT and Tumorigenesis. Current cancer drug targets, 13(9), 963-972. doi: 10.2174/15680096113136660102

Wawruszak, A., Kalafut, J., Okon, E., Czapinski, J., Halasa, M., Przybyszewska, A., . . . Stepulak, A. (2019). Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors and Phenotypical Transformation of Cancer Cells. Cancers (Basel), 11(2). doi:10.3390/cancers11020148

Xue, Y., Zhang, L., Zhu, Y., Ke, X., Wang, Q., & Min, H. (2019). Regulation of Proliferation and Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) of Gastric Cancer by ZEB1 via Modulating Wnt5a and Related Mechanisms. Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research, 25, 1663-1670. doi:10.12659/MSM.912338

Yang, W., Wu, P. F., Ma, J. X., Liao, M. J., Wang, X. H., Xu, L. S., . . . Yi, L. (2019). Sortilin promotes glioblastoma invasion and mesenchymal transition through GSK-3beta/beta-catenin/twist pathway. Cell Death Dis, 10(3), 208. doi:10.1038/s41419-019-1449-9