Diverse cellular and molecular mechanisms contribute to epithelial plasticity and metastasis.

In contrast to the aberrant control of proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis and lifespan, the cellular mechanisms that cause local invasion and metastasis of tumour cells are still poorly understood. New experimental approaches have identified different types of epithelial-plasticity changes in tumour cells towards fibroblastoid phenotypes as crucial events that occur during metastasis, and many molecules and signalling pathways cooperate to trigger these processes.