Ectopic expression of HNF4 α in Het1A cells induces an invasive phenotype

We examined the competitive ability of Het1A cells stably expressing HNF4α or CDX2 and placed in confrontation with unmodified Het1A cells. The key result is that stable expression of HNF4α, but not CDX2, increased the ability of the cells to migrate and push into the unmodified Het1A domain. In this situation the boundary between the cell types is a sharp one, as is normally seen in BO. The experiments were conducted using a variety of extracellular substrates, which all tended to increase the cell migration compared to uncoated plastic. These data provide evidence that HNF4α expression could have a potential role in the competitive spread of BO into the oesophagus as HNF4α increases the ability of cells to invade into the adjacent stratified squamous epithelium, thus enabling a single mutant cell eventually to generate a macroscopic patch of metaplasia.PMID:37690144 | DOI:10.1016/j.diff.2023.08.003

Source: Differentiation - September 10, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Carmen Grimaldos Rodriguez Ella F Rimmer Benjamin Colleypriest David Tosh Jonathan M W Slack Ute Jungwirth Source Type: research