Department of Oral Pathology, Oral Cancer Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Dentistry, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea.
Arch Pharm Res. 2019 Jan;42(1):14-24. doi: 10.1007/s12272-018-01108-7. Epub 2019 Jan 16.
The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) comprises an essential biological process involving cancer progression as well as initiation. While the EMT has been regarded as a phenotypic conversion from epithelial to mesenchymal cells, recent evidence indicates that it plays a critical role in stemness, metabolic reprogramming, immune evasion and therapeutic resistance of cancer cells. Interestingly, several transcriptional repressors including Snail (SNAI1), Slug (SNAI2) and the ZEB family constitute key players for EMT in cancer as well as in the developmental process. Note that the dynamic conversion between EMT and epithelial reversion (mesenchymal-epithelial transition, MET) occurs through variable intermediate-hybrid states rather than being a binary process. Given the close connection between oncogenic signaling and EMT repressors, the EMT has emerged as a therapeutic target or goal (in terms of MET reversion) in cancer therapy. Here we review the critical role of EMT in therapeutic resistance and the importance of EMT as a therapeutic target for human cancer.
上皮-间充质转化（EMT）是一个重要的生物学过程，涉及癌症的进展和起始。虽然 EMT 已被认为是上皮细胞向间充质细胞的表型转化，但最近的证据表明，它在癌细胞的干性、代谢重编程、免疫逃逸和治疗耐药性中发挥着关键作用。有趣的是，包括 Snail（SNAI1）、Slug（SNAI2）和 ZEB 家族在内的几个转录抑制因子在癌症和发育过程中都是 EMT 的关键参与者。值得注意的是，EMT 和上皮逆转（间充质-上皮转化，MET）之间的动态转换是通过可变的中间杂交状态发生的，而不是一个二元过程。鉴于致癌信号与 EMT 抑制因子之间的密切联系，EMT 已成为癌症治疗中的一个治疗靶点或目标（就 MET 逆转而言）。在这里，我们回顾了 EMT 在治疗耐药性中的关键作用以及 EMT 作为人类癌症治疗靶点的重要性。
