Re-evaluating the role of epithelial-mesenchymal-transition in cancer progression

Abstract

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) are essential for embryonic development and also important in cancer progression. In a conventional model, epithelial-like cancer cells transit to mesenchymal-like tumor cells with great motility via EMT transcription factors; these mesenchymal-like cells migrate through the circulation system, relocate to a suitable site and then convert back to an epithelial-like phenotype to regenerate the tumor. However, recent findings challenge this conventional model and support the existence of a stable hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal (E/M) tumor population. Hybrid E/M tumor cells exhibit both epithelial and mesenchymal properties, possess great metastatic and tumorigenic capacity and are associated with poorer patient prognosis. The hybrid E/M model and associated regulatory networks represent a conceptual change regarding tumor metastasis and organ colonization. It may lead to the development of novel treatment strategies to ultimately stop cancer progression and improve disease-free survival.

Keywords

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) / mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) / hybrid EMT/MET / cancer metastasis

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Acknowledgments:

We thank Dr. Luk Cox and Dr. Idoya Lahortiga from Somersault 18:24 to allow the use of their Library of Science and Medical Illustrations (http:// www.somersault1824.com/resources/) for the creation of the Fig. 1.

This work is supported by operating grants from Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation-Ontario Region and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research MOP-111224 to LW.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2017 2017 by the Journal of Biomedical Research.