Tumor Immunology and Gene Therapy Center, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, the Second Military Medicial University, Shanghai, China.
Cell Biosci. 2011 Aug 31;1:29. doi: 10.1186/2045-3701-1-29.
The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays crucial roles in the formation of the body plan and also in the tumor invasion process. In addition, EMT also causes disruption of cell-cell adherence, loss of apico-basal polarity, matrix remodeling, increased motility and invasiveness in promoting tumor metastasis. The tumor microenvironment plays an important role in facilitating cancer metastasis and may induce the occurrence of EMT in tumor cells. A large number of inflammatory cells infiltrating the tumor site, as well as hypoxia existing in a large area of tumor, in addition many stem cells present in tumor microenvironment, such as cancer stem cells (CSCs), mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), all of these may be the inducers of EMT in tumor cells. The signaling pathways involved in EMT are various, including TGF-β, NF-κB, Wnt, Notch, and others. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge about the role of the tumor microenvironment in EMT and the related signaling pathways as well as the interaction between them.
上皮间质转化（EMT）在体节形成中起着关键作用，也在肿瘤侵袭过程中起着关键作用。此外，EMT 还导致细胞间黏附的破坏、顶端-基底极性的丧失、基质重塑、运动性和侵袭性的增加，从而促进肿瘤转移。肿瘤微环境在促进癌症转移方面起着重要作用，并且可能诱导肿瘤细胞发生 EMT。大量炎性细胞浸润肿瘤部位，以及肿瘤大面积存在的缺氧，以及肿瘤微环境中存在的许多干细胞，如癌症干细胞（CSCs）、间充质干细胞（MSCs），所有这些都可能是肿瘤细胞 EMT 的诱导剂。涉及 EMT 的信号通路有多种，包括 TGF-β、NF-κB、Wnt、Notch 等。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了肿瘤微环境在 EMT 中的作用以及相关信号通路及其相互作用的最新知识。
