The aim of the present study was to investigate whether different BMPs, including BMP2, BMP4, BMP6 and BMP7, influence esophageal squamous cancer cell (ESCC) growth, invasion and metastasis.
BMP7 did not alter the TGFβ1-stimulated phosphorylation of TGFβ receptor, but significantly inhibited the TGFβ1-activated epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related genes in breast cancer cells, resulting in a significant reduction in TGFβ1-triggered cell growth and cell metastasis.
In this study, we investigated whether the transcription factor Id2, which has been implicated in colorectal carcinoma proliferation and metastasis, is involved in BMP-7/Smad4 signaling, or whether it is regulated by BMP-7 via another mechanism in this cell type.
Because epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition is involved in cancer, we investigated whether BMP7 plays a role in prostate cancer growth and metastasis.
Recently, we reported that the level of BMP-7 expression was significantly higher in metastatic bone lesions than in normal bone and that the high expression of BMP-7 in metastatic bone lesions was related to osteoblastic metastasis.