The aggressiveness of the GC cells was induced through the E-cadherin/maspin pathway, while the CD44-related stem-like properties of the tumor cells induced the aggressiveness of ductal carcinoma.
We have used human breast ductal carcinoma as a model to identify two alternative splicing pathways of the CD44 pre-mRNA variable region that account for the generation of all of the CD44 isoforms described in breast tissue.