Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) play an important role in the development and progression of cancer by inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In this study, we investigated the role of CAFs in endometrial cancer (EC) cells. We found that the pituitary tumor transforming gene (PTTG) expression was significantly increased in EC cell lines compared to normal human endometrial epithelial cells. Furthermore, CAFs could induce PTTG over-expression and increase EC cell invasion and migration in vitro. In addition, CAFs also induced EMT in EC cells. This study demonstrated that CAFs induced EMT in endometrial cancer cells by regulating PTTG.
Keywords: Cancer-associated fibroblasts; Endometrial cancer; Epithelial-mesenchymal transition; Pituitary tumor transforming gene.