Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre, Institute of Cancer Research, 237 Fulham Road, London SW3 6JB, UK.
Breast Cancer Res. 2011 Aug 16;13(4):313. doi: 10.1186/bcr2915.
Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an essential process in embryonic development and is aberrantly induced in many disease settings. Work carried out by Chonghui Cheng's laboratory addressed the involvement of alternative RNA splicing in EMT and its link to tumour progression. They describe a switch in CD44 expression from variant isoform(s) to the standard isoform and showed, for the first time, that this is required for normal epithelial cells to undergo EMT. In addition, they link expression of the CD44 standard isoform with high-grade breast cancer and to activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt pathway and apoptosis resistance in a mouse model of recurrent disease.
上皮-间充质转化（EMT）是胚胎发育过程中的一个重要过程，在许多疾病状态下异常诱导。Chonghui Cheng 实验室的工作涉及到选择性 RNA 剪接在 EMT 中的参与及其与肿瘤进展的联系。他们描述了 CD44 表达从变异异构体向标准异构体的转变，并首次表明这是正常上皮细胞发生 EMT 所必需的。此外，他们还将 CD44 标准异构体的表达与高级别乳腺癌以及磷酸肌醇 3-激酶/ Akt 通路的激活和复发性疾病小鼠模型中的凋亡抵抗联系起来。
