Abstract: Metastasis of epithelial tumor cells can be associated with the acquisition of fibroblastoid features and the ability to invade stroma and blood vessels. Using matched in vivo and in vitro culture systems employing fully polarized, mammary epithelial cells, we report here that TGF-beta1 brings about these changes in Ras-transformed cells but not in normal cells. When grown in collagen gels in the absence of TGF-beta, both normal and Ras-transformed mammary epithelial cells form organ-like structures in which the cells maintain their epithelial ...
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Topics: 
Cell biology
Cancer research