Department of Biomedical Sciences, Nazarbayev University School of Medicine, Astana, 020000, Kazakhstan.
Al-Mana College for Medical Science, Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
Mol Cancer. 2023 May 31;22(1):90. doi: 10.1186/s12943-023-01793-z.
Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) and mesenchymal epithelial transition (MET) are genetic determinants of cellular plasticity. These programs operate in physiological (embryonic development, wound healing) and pathological (organ fibrosis, cancer) conditions. In cancer, EMT and MET interfere with various signalling pathways at different levels. This results in gross alterations in the gene expression programs, which affect most, if not all hallmarks of cancer, such as response to proliferative and death-inducing signals, tumorigenicity, and cell stemness. EMT in cancer cells involves large scale reorganisation of the cytoskeleton, loss of epithelial integrity, and gain of mesenchymal traits, such as mesenchymal type of cell migration. In this regard, EMT/MET plasticity is highly relevant to the Go-or-Grow concept, which postulates the dichotomous relationship between cell motility and proliferation. The Go-or-Grow decisions are critically important in the processes in which EMT/MET plasticity takes the central stage, mobilisation of stem cells during wound healing, cancer relapse, and metastasis. Here we outline the maintenance of quiescence in stem cell and metastatic niches, focusing on the implication of EMT/MET regulatory networks in Go-or-Grow switches. In particular, we discuss the analogy between cells residing in hybrid quasi-mesenchymal states and G, an intermediate phase allowing quiescent stem cells to enter the cell cycle rapidly.
上皮间质转化 (EMT) 和间质上皮转化 (MET) 是细胞可塑性的遗传决定因素。这些程序在生理条件下(胚胎发育、伤口愈合)和病理条件下(器官纤维化、癌症)发挥作用。在癌症中,EMT 和 MET 在不同层面干扰各种信号通路。这导致基因表达程序的巨大改变,影响了癌症的大多数特征,如果不是全部的话,如对增殖和诱导死亡信号的反应、致瘤性和细胞干性。癌细胞中的 EMT 涉及细胞骨架的大规模重组、上皮完整性的丧失和间质特征的获得,例如间质型细胞迁移。在这方面,EMT/MET 可塑性与 Go-or-Grow 概念高度相关,该概念假定细胞迁移和增殖之间存在二分关系。Go-or-Grow 决策在 EMT/MET 可塑性起核心作用的过程中至关重要,例如在伤口愈合、癌症复发和转移期间动员干细胞。在这里,我们概述了静止状态在干细胞和转移性小生境中的维持,重点讨论了 EMT/MET 调节网络在 Go-or-Grow 转换中的意义。特别是,我们讨论了处于混合拟间质状态的细胞与 G 之间的类比,G 是允许静止干细胞快速进入细胞周期的中间阶段。
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