Ricerc@Sapienza

Some yet unidentified factors released by both oocyte and embryonic microenvironments demonstrated to be non-permissive for tumor development and display the remarkable ability to foster cell/tissue reprogramming, thus ultimately reversing the malignant phenotype. In the present study we observed how molecular factors extracted from Zebrafish embryos during specific developmental phases (20 somites) significantly antagonize proliferation of breast cancer cells, while reversing a number of prominent aspects of malignancy. Embryo extracts reduce cell proliferation, enhance apoptosis, and dramatically inhibit both invasiveness and migrating capabilities of cancer cells. Counteracting the invasive phenotype is a relevant issue in controlling tumor spreading and metastasis. Moreover, such effect is not limited to cancerous cells as embryo extracts were also effective in inhibiting migration and invasiveness displayed by normal breast cells undergoing epithelial-mesenchymal transition upon TGF-β1 stimulation. The reversion program involves the modulation of E-cadherin/β-catenin pathway, cytoskeleton remodeling with dramatic reduction in vinculin, as well as downregulation of TCTP and the concomitant increase in p53 levels. Our findings highlight that-contrary to the prevailing current "dogma", which posits that neoplastic cells are irreversibly "committed"-the malignant phenotype can ultimately be "reversed", at least partially, in response to environmental morphogenetic influences.