Hepatocyte growth factor-induced up-regulation of Twist drives epithelial-mesenchymal transition in a canine mammary tumour cell line

- EMT like phenomenon was induced by HGF stimulation in CHMm cells.
- Up-regulation of Twist mRNA was observed after HGF stimulation in CHMm cells.
- The enhancement of cell motility and the induction of fibronectin were not observed after HGF stimulation in Twist-knockdowned CHMm cells.
- Twist plays an important role in HGF-induced EMT in CHMm cells.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a crucial step in tumour progression. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying EMT in canine tumours remain to be elucidated. In this study, the similarity or difference in the molecular mechanism of EMT in canine cells was evaluated and compared with that reported in human and mouse cells. We used eight cell lines derived from canine mammary cancers. Stimulation with hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) increased cell motility and changed EMT-related markers towards mesenchyme in CHMm cell line. These changes were accompanied by an increase in Twist expression and did not occur in CHMm transfected with Twist siRNA, indicating that Twist plays a key role in this phenomenon in CHMm. However, the down-regulation of E-cadherin was not observed by HGF stimulation. Further studies are required to elucidate the difference between human and canine Twist.