NCBI Summary:
The level and beta-cell specificity of insulin gene expression are regulated by a set of nuclear proteins that bind to specific sequences within the promoter of the insulin gene (INS; MIM 176730) and interact with RNA polymerase to activate or repress transcription. The proteins LMX1 (MIM 600298) and CDX3 are homeodomain proteins that bind an A/T-rich sequence in the insulin promoter and stimulate its transcription (German et al., 1994 [PubMed 7698771]).[supplied by OMIM]
General function
DNA binding, Transcription factor
Comment
Cdx2 gene expression and trophectoderm lineage specification in mouse embryos. Deb K et al. Controversy exists as to whether individual blastomeres from two-cell-stage mouse embryos have identical developmental properties and fate. We show that the transcription factor Cdx2 is expressed in the nuclei of cells derived from the late-dividing but not the first-dividing blastomere of two-cell embryos and, by lineage tracing and RNA interference knock-down experiments, that this lagging cell is the precursor of trophectoderm. Cdx2 mRNA is localized toward the vegetal pole of oocytes, reorients after fertilization, and becomes concentrated in the late-dividing, two-cell-stage blastomere. The asymmetrical distribution of Cdx2 gene products in the oocyte and embryo defines the lineage to trophectoderm.
This paper was retracted.
Cellular localization
Nuclear
Comment
Ovarian function
Early embryo development
Comment
Maternal-zygotic knockout reveals a critical role of Cdx2 in the morula to blastocyst transition. Jedrusik A et al. (2014) The first lineage segregation in the mouse embryo generates the inner cell mass (ICM), which gives rise to the pluripotent epiblast and therefore the future embryo, and the trophectoderm (TE), which will build the placenta. The TE lineage depends on the transcription factor Cdx2. However, when Cdx2 first starts to act remains unclear. Embryos with zygotic deletion of Cdx2 develop normally until the late blastocyst stage leading to the conclusion that Cdx2 is important for the maintenance but not specification of the TE. In contrast, down-regulation of Cdx2 transcripts from the early embryo stage results in defects in TE specification before the blastocyst stage. Here, to unambiguously address at which developmental stage Cdx2 becomes first required, we genetically deleted Cdx2 from the oocyte stage using a Zp3-Cre/loxP strategy. Careful assessment of a large cohort of Cdx2 maternal-zygotic null embryos, all individually filmed, examined and genotyped, reveals an earlier lethal phenotype than observed in Cdx2 zygotic null embryos that develop until the late blastocyst stage. The developmental failure of Cdx2 maternal-zygotic null embryos is associated with cell death and failure of TE specification, starting at the morula stage. These results indicate that Cdx2 is important for the correct specification of TE from the morula stage onwards and that both maternal and zygotic pools of Cdx2 are required for correct pre-implantation embryogenesis.//////////////////
Role of Cdx2 and cell polarity in cell allocation and specification of trophectoderm and inner cell mass in the mouse embryo. Jedrusik A et al. Genesis of the trophectoderm and inner cell mass (ICM) lineages occurs in two stages. It is initiated via asymmetric divisions of eight- and 16-cell blastomeres that allocate cells to inner and outer positions, each with different developmental fates. Outside cells become committed to the trophectoderm at the blastocyst stage through Cdx2 activity, but here we show that Cdx2 can also act earlier to influence cell allocation. Increasing Cdx2 levels in individual blastomeres promotes symmetric divisions, thereby allocating more cells to the trophectoderm, whereas reducing Cdx2 promotes asymmetric divisions and consequently contribution to the ICM. Furthermore, both Cdx2 mRNA and protein levels are heterogeneous at the eight-cell stage. This heterogeneity depends on cell origin and has developmental consequences. Cdx2 expression is minimal in cells with unrestricted developmental potential that contribute preferentially to the ICM and is maximal in cells with reduced potential that contribute more to the trophectoderm. Finally, we describe a mutually reinforcing relationship between cellular polarity and Cdx2: Cdx2 influences cell polarity by up-regulating aPKC, but cell polarity also influences Cdx2 through asymmetric distribution of Cdx2 mRNA in polarized blastomeres. Thus, divisions generating inside and outside cells are truly asymmetric with respect to cell fate instructions. These two interacting effects ensure the generation of a stable outer epithelium by the blastocyst stage.
Cdx2 gene expression and trophectoderm lineage specification in mouse embryos. Deb K et al. Controversy exists as to whether individual blastomeres from two-cell-stage mouse embryos have identical developmental properties and fate. We show that the transcription factor Cdx2 is expressed in the nuclei of cells derived from the late-dividing but not the first-dividing blastomere of two-cell embryos and, by lineage tracing and RNA interference knock-down experiments, that this lagging cell is the precursor of trophectoderm. Cdx2 mRNA is localized toward the vegetal pole of oocytes, reorients after fertilization, and becomes concentrated in the late-dividing, two-cell-stage blastomere. The asymmetrical distribution of Cdx2 gene products in the oocyte and embryo defines the lineage to trophectoderm. Role of mouse maternal Cdx2: what's the debate all about? Wu G et al. Whether mouse oocytes are polarized and pre-patterned has been the subject of controversy for many years. Cdx2, a class I homeobox transcription factor of the caudal-related homeobox gene family, is involved in defining the anterior/posterior body axis, establishing anterior/posterior patterning of the intestine and forming a functional trophectoderm. The latter phenomenon suggests that maternal Cdx2 might be unevenly distributed in oocytes and plays a key role in the first lineage separation event in mouse preimplantation embryos. Unfortunately, two recent reports on the knockdown of maternal Cdx2 have produced contradictory results. As two authors of one of these reports, we would like to address these results and the corresponding commentary of Alexander W Bruce with this commentary.
Expression regulated by
Comment
Ovarian localization
Oocyte, Ovarian tumor
Comment
The homeobox intestinal differentiation factor CDX2 is selectively expressed in gastrointestinal adenocarcinomas.
Kaimaktchiev V, et al .
CDX2 is a homeobox domain-containing transcription factor that is important in the development and differentiation of the intestines. Based on recent studies, CDX2 expression is immunohistochemically detectable in normal colonic enterocytes and is retained in most, but not all, colorectal adenocarcinomas. CDX2 expression has also been documented in a subset of adenocarcinomas arising in the stomach, esophagus and ovary. In this study, we examined CDX2 expression in a series of large tissue microarrays representing 4652 samples of normal and neoplastic tissues. Strong nuclear staining for CDX2 was observed in 97.9% of 140 colonic adenomas, 85.7% of 1109 colonic adenocarcinomas overall and 81.8% of 55 mucinous variants. There was no significant difference in the staining of well-differentiated (96%) and moderately differentiated tumors (90.8%, P=0.18), but poorly differentiated tumors showed reduced overall expression (56.0%, P<0.000001). Correspondingly, there was an inverse correlation between CDX2 expression and tumor stage, with a significant decrease in staining between pT2 and pT3 tumors (95.8 vs 89.0%, P<0.012), and between pT3 and pT4 tumors (89.0 vs 79.8%, P<0.016). Analysis of 140 locally advanced, CDX2-positive colorectal adenocarcinomas coarrayed with their matching lymph node metastases revealed that expression of this marker was retained in 82.1% of the metastases. Consistent with previous reports, CDX2 staining was observed in gastric adenocarcinomas (n=71), more commonly in the intestinal-type than the diffuse-type (28.9 vs 11.5%, P<0.05). Occasional ovarian carcinomas were positive for CDX2, including mucinous (10.5%), endometrioid (9.3%) and serous variants (2%), but expression was either very rare or absent in primary carcinomas of the lung, breast, thyroid, pancreas, liver, gallbladder, kidney, endometrium and urinary bladder. A low frequency of CDX2 expression in pancreatic and biliary carcinomas observed on the microarrays was pursued further by comparing these tumors with ampullary adenocarcinomas on conventional sections. Ampullary adenocarcinomas were more commonly positive for CDX2 (19/24, 79%) than cholangiocarcinomas (1/11, 9%) and pancreatic carcinomas (3/20, 15%). In summary, CDX2 is a sensitive and specific marker for colorectal adenocarcinoma, although its expression is decreased among higher grade and stage tumors, and it is not invariably present in metastases from positive primaries. CDX2 may also be helpful in distinguishing adenocarcinomas of the ampulla from those arising in the pancreas and biliary tree.
Immunohistochemical expression of CDX2 in primary ovarian mucinous tumors and metastatic mucinous carcinomas involving the ovary: comparison with CK20 and correlation with coordinate expression of CK7. Vang R et al. Recent studies have demonstrated conflicting results regarding the value of CDX2 for distinguishing primary ovarian mucinous tumors from metastatic mucinous carcinomas in the ovary. Utility of coordinate expression of cytokeratins 7 and 20 is restricted to distinction of ovarian mucinous tumors from lower gastrointestinal tract metastases and data comparing coordinate expression of all three markers is limited. Immunohistochemical studies were performed to compare expression of CDX2 and cytokeratin 20, both markers of intestinal differentiation, in conjunction with coordinate expression of cytokeratin 7, in 90 mucinous tumors involving the ovary: 42 primary ovarian mucinous tumors (31 atypical proliferative (borderline) mucinous tumors (gastrointestinal type), 11 mucinous carcinomas) and 48 metastatic mucinous carcinomas of upper (pancreaticobiliary tract: 14; stomach: five) and lower (colon and rectum: 25; appendix: four) gastrointestinal tract origin. Primary ovarian tumors expressed CDX2 (40%) less frequently than cytokeratin 20 (83%) (P<0.0001). CDX2 expression in primary ovarian tumors (40%) was lower than CDX2 expression in metastatic carcinomas of both upper (74%; P=0.016) and lower gastrointestinal tract origin (90%; P<0.0001). Cytokeratin 20 expression was similar in primary ovarian tumors (83%) and metastases of upper (89%; P=0.071) and lower gastrointestinal tract origin (93%; P=0.29). Thus, as a single marker CDX2 offers some advantage over cytokeratin 20 because it is less frequently positive in primary ovarian tumors. In the almost universally cytokeratin 7-positive primary ovarian tumors and metastases of upper gastrointestinal tract origin, CDX2 coordinate expression was less common in primary ovarian tumors (36%) than in metastases of upper gastrointestinal tract origin (63%) (P=0.022) whereas cytokeratin 20 coordinate expression was identical in both tumor types (79%). In the almost universally cytokeratin 7-negative metastases of lower gastrointestinal tract origin, coordinate expression of CDX2 (83%) and cytokeratin 20 (86%) were equivalent (P=1.00). CDX2 was comparable to cytokeratin 20 in distinguishing metastases of lower gastrointestinal tract origin (usually cytokeratin 7-negative and CDX2/cytokeratin 20 positive) from primary ovarian tumors and metastases of upper gastrointestinal tract origin (usually cytokeratin 7-positive and CDX2/cytokeratin 20 variable). CDX2 provided some advantage over cytokeratin 20 for distinguishing primary ovarian mucinous tumors from metastases of upper but not lower gastrointestinal tract origin; however, the advantage in the former was limited due to the occurrence of shared coordinate expression profiles in both tumor types. Cytokeratin 7 provides the predominant discriminatory value among these markers yet is limited to distinction of primary ovarian tumors from metastases of lower gastrointestinal tract origin.Modern Pathology advance online publication, 15 September 2006; doi:10.1038/modpathol.3800698.