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Figure 6 | Breast Cancer Research

Figure 6

From: ERβ1 represses basal-like breast cancer epithelial to mesenchymal transition by destabilizing EGFR

Figure 6

ERβ1 levels positively correlate with E-cadherin in breast cancers. (A) Pearson's correlation of ERβ1 expression with expression of E-cadherin. N equals the number of patients for whom data were available. (B) Representative images of ERβ1 and E-cadherin expression in two serial sections of the same tumor from two cases. Scale bars represent 200 μM. (C) ERβ1 and E-cadherin were box-plotted in the 208 breast cancer patients. The patients were divided into three groups based on ERβ1 expression scores in the tumors, representing low, medium and high expression of ERβ1. Any outliers were marked with a circle and extreme cases with an asterisk. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA test with Games-Howell's correction. (D) The percentage of E-cadherin-positive tumors was analyzed in the three groups of patients as described in C. Data were analyzed using Pearson's χ2 test. (E) Proposed mechanism for how ERβ1 regulates EMT and influences invasion in breast cancer. EGFR promotes EMT in basal cells by activating ERK1/2, which in turn, by inducing the expression of ZEB1/2, results in the down-regulation of E-cadherin. This process requires repression of the expression of members of miR-200 family. By inducing the degradation of EGFR, ERβ1 sustains ERK1/2 inactive, up-regulates miR200a-b and miR-429, down-regulates ZEB1/2 and induces the expression of E-cadherin.

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