Department of Molecular and Biomedical Pharmacology, University of Kentucky School of Medicine, Lexington, KY, USA.
Cell Adh Migr. 2010 Apr-Jun;4(2):199-203. doi: 10.4161/cam.4.2.10943. Epub 2010 Apr 14.
Snail has moved into the fast lane of development and cancer biology with the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) emerging as one of the hottest topics in medical science within the past few years. Snail not only acts primarily as a key inducer of EMT but also plays an important role in cell survival, immune regulation and stem cell biology. This review focuses on the regulation of Snail and discusses the EMT-dependent and -independent functions of Snail in development and disease. Understanding the regulation and functional roles of Snail will shed new light on the mechanism of tumor progression and the development of novel cancer therapies.
蜗牛在发育和癌症生物学领域飞速发展,上皮-间充质转化 (EMT) 成为近年来医学科学领域最热门的话题之一。蜗牛不仅主要作为 EMT 的关键诱导因子起作用,而且在细胞存活、免疫调节和干细胞生物学中也发挥着重要作用。本文重点讨论了 Snail 的调控,并讨论了 Snail 在发育和疾病中的 EMT 依赖性和非依赖性功能。了解 Snail 的调控和功能作用将为肿瘤进展的机制和新型癌症治疗方法的发展提供新的思路。