Key Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology, Ministry of Education and Tianjin City, Department of Pharmaceutical Engineering, College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, China.
IUBMB Life. 2012 Sep;64(9):717-23. doi: 10.1002/iub.1059. Epub 2012 Jun 25.
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition is an important developmental process, participates in tumor's formation, invasion, and metastasis and has been extensively studied. Recently, endothelial-mesenchymal transition (EndMT), a newly recognized type of cellular transdifferentiation, has been demonstrated to participate in a number of diseases by causing morphology changes and pathological processes. Previous studies showed that EndMT was a critical process of embryonic cardiac development. Not only that recent advances also suggested that EndMT occurred postnatally in cancer and cardiac fibrosis and emerged as a possible source of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). CAFs were found to acquire properties that promoted tumor development and metastasis formation. Resident endothelial cells undergoing EndMT lose their endothelial markers, acquire a mesenchymal or myofibroblastic phenotype, express mesenchymal cell products such as α-smooth muscle actin and type I collagen and develop invasive and migratory abilities. EndMT-derived cells are believed to function as fibroblasts in damaged tissue and may therefore have an important role in pathological process. However, little is known about the signaling mechanisms that cause endothelial cells to transform into mesenchymal cells. Transforming growth factor-β, Notch, or other signaling pathways could direct or interact to mediate EndMT. Therefore, to explore the signaling mechanisms of EndMT may provide novel therapeutic strategies for treating cancer.
上皮-间充质转化是一种重要的发育过程，参与肿瘤的形成、侵袭和转移，并已得到广泛研究。最近，内皮-间充质转化（EndMT），一种新发现的细胞转化类型，通过引起形态变化和病理过程，被证明参与了许多疾病。先前的研究表明，EndMT 是胚胎心脏发育的一个关键过程。不仅如此，最近的进展还表明，EndMT 在癌症和心脏纤维化中发生在出生后，并可能成为癌症相关成纤维细胞（CAFs）的来源。CAFs 被发现获得了促进肿瘤发展和转移形成的特性。经历 EndMT 的常驻内皮细胞失去其内皮标记物，获得间充质或肌成纤维细胞表型，表达间充质细胞产物，如α-平滑肌肌动蛋白和 I 型胶原，并获得侵袭和迁移能力。EndMT 衍生的细胞被认为在受损组织中起成纤维细胞的作用，因此可能在病理过程中具有重要作用。然而，导致内皮细胞转化为间充质细胞的信号机制知之甚少。转化生长因子-β、Notch 或其他信号通路可能直接或相互作用来介导 EndMT。因此，探索 EndMT 的信号机制可能为治疗癌症提供新的治疗策略。
