Park Seon Mee, Kim Sung Moo, Han Joung Ho
Department of Internal Medicine, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju, Korea.
Korean J Gastroenterol. 2010 Aug;56(2):69-77. doi: 10.4166/kjg.2010.56.2.69.
The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays physiologic roles in the embryogenesis, wound healing, and tissue regeneration. In terms of pathological direction, it causes organ fibrosis, cancer development, progression, metastasis, and chemoresistance. Recently, the underlying mechanism of EMT and many kinds of EMT regulators have been identified. Pharmaceutical treatment strategies which target EMT pathway could be applied for the prevention of tissue fibrosis and cancer progression. In the field of gastroenterology, profuse evidences have been collected about the critical roles of EMT in cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, liver, and pancreas and hepatic fibrosis. However, EMT varies widely among cancer types, and much remains to be identified about the main regulators of EMT in a specific disease. In this review, we present recent research results regarding the roles of EMT in cancers and organic fibrosis, especially in the area of gastroenterology.
上皮-间质转化（EMT）在胚胎发育、伤口愈合和组织再生过程中发挥着生理作用。在病理方面，它会导致器官纤维化、癌症发生、发展、转移和化疗耐药。最近，EMT的潜在机制以及多种EMT调节因子已被确定。针对EMT途径的药物治疗策略可用于预防组织纤维化和癌症进展。在胃肠病学领域，已经收集了大量证据，证明EMT在胃肠道、肝脏、胰腺癌症以及肝纤维化中起着关键作用。然而，EMT在不同癌症类型中差异很大，对于特定疾病中EMT的主要调节因子仍有许多有待确定。在本综述中，我们展示了关于EMT在癌症和器官纤维化中作用的最新研究成果，特别是在胃肠病学领域。
