Tamoxifen reverts partially the mesenchymal phenotype of effluent-derived MCs.

<p>Effluent-derived MCs with mesenchymal phenotype (as determined by non-epitheliod morphology, low expression of E-cadherin and up-regulated expression of mesenchymal markers) were treated with different doses of Tamoxifen (0, 3, 6, and 10 µM) and analyzed at 48 hours. Omentum-derived MCs were employed as control. (<b>A</b>) Western blot analyses show that Tamoxifen treatments do not re-induce E-cadherin expression but inhibit the expression of the mesenchymal molecules α-SMA, collagen I, fibronectin and MMP-2; being the effects of Tamoxifen more evident at high doses (6 and 10 µM). A representative experiment is shown. (<b>B to F</b>) The experiments were repeated with five different samples of effluent-derived MCs and results of the expression of E-cadherin <b>(B)</b>, α-SMA <b>(C)</b>, collagen I <b>(D)</b>, MMP-2 <b>(E)</b> and fibronectin <b>(F)</b> are depicted as means ± SE. Quantitative RT-PCR demonstrates that the expression of Snail mRNA is not inhibited by any dose of Tamoxifen tested <b>(G)</b>. Bars depict means ± SE of five independent experiments.