Thiery Jean Paul, Sleeman Jonathan P
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Unité Mixte Recherche (UMR) 144 and Institut Curie, 26 rue d'Ulm, 75248 Paris Cedex 05, France.
Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2006 Feb;7(2):131-42. doi: 10.1038/nrm1835.
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition is an indispensable mechanism during morphogenesis, as without mesenchymal cells, tissues and organs will never be formed. However, epithelial-cell plasticity, coupled to the transient or permanent formation of mesenchyme, goes far beyond the problem of cell-lineage segregation. Understanding how mesenchymal cells arise from an epithelial default status will also have a strong impact in unravelling the mechanisms that control fibrosis and cancer progression.
上皮-间质转化是形态发生过程中不可或缺的机制，因为没有间充质细胞，组织和器官就永远无法形成。然而，上皮细胞可塑性与间充质的短暂或永久形成相结合，远远超出了细胞谱系分离的问题。了解间充质细胞如何从上皮默认状态产生，也将对揭示控制纤维化和癌症进展的机制产生重大影响。
