Is E-cadherin a gene?
Rachel Hickman
Published Mar 18, 2026
Is E-cadherin a gene?
Cadherin-1 (not to be confused with the APC/C activator protein CDH1) also known as CAM 120/80 or epithelial cadherin (E-cadherin) or uvomorulin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CDH1 gene. Mutations are correlated with gastric, breast, colorectal, thyroid, and ovarian cancers.
What is the gene code for E-cadherin?
The CDH1 gene provides instructions for making a protein called epithelial cadherin or E-cadherin. This protein is found within the membrane that surrounds epithelial cells, which are the cells that line the surfaces and cavities of the body, such as the inside of the eyelids and mouth.
Is E-cadherin a tumor suppressor gene?
E-cadherin is a tumor suppressor protein, and the loss of its expression in association with the epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) occurs frequently during tumor metastasis.
What is the role of E-cadherin?
E-cadherin is thought to prevent the initial dissociation of epithelial cells from the original tumor mass, and loss of cell-cell adhesion and cell junctions allows cells to invade surrounding tissues and migrate to distant sites.
What is E-cadherin and N cadherin?
E-cadherin and N-cadherin are classical cadherins and share similar structures. They form cadherin-catenin complex where the cytoplasmic domain consists of EC repeats that bind with catenins to moderate the cytoskeletal filament containing actin.
Where is e-cadherin located?
E-cadherin is one of the most important molecules in cell-cell adhesion in epithelial tissues. It is localized on the surfaces of epithelial cells in regions of cell-cell contact known as adherens junctions [3].
Is E-cadherin a protein?
It is a single-pass transmembrane protein that mediates calcium-dependent epithelial cell adhesion. E-Cadherin has five extracellular EC domains that form homophilic cis-clusters between adjacent epithelial cells and trans-clusters within the same cell.
Why is e-cadherin a tumor suppressor?
E-cadherin is a tumor suppressor protein with a well-established role in cell–cell adhesion. Adhesion could contribute to tumor suppression either by physically joining cells or by facilitating other juxtacrine signaling events.
Which cells express E-cadherin?
Our interest was stimulated by studies indicating that E-cadherin is expressed by Langerhans cells which are part of the family of dendritic cells [8, 9].
What causes loss of E-cadherin?
The complete loss of expression of adhesion proteins such as E-cadherin within a tumor tissue may be caused by genetic or epigenetic alterations.
What does cadherin bind to?
The classic cadherins are homophilic adhesion molecules That is, E-cadherin expressed on one cell surface binds to E-cadherin expressed on an apposed cell surface, N-cadherin binds to N, P to P and so forth.
What is the difference between E-cadherin and N-cadherin?
The structural difference between E-cadherin and N-cadherin is that E-cadherin binds with the shorter isoform of p120 catenin while N-cadherin binds with the longer isoform.