Department of Cell and Tissue Biology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Department of Cell and Tissue Biology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2024 Aug;89:102400. doi: 10.1016/j.ceb.2024.102400. Epub 2024 Jul 19.
Cells have evolved mechanisms to migrate for diverse biological functions. A process frequently deployed during metazoan cell migration is the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). During EMT, adherent epithelial cells undergo coordinated cellular transitions to mesenchymalize and reduce their intercellular attachments. This is achieved via tightly regulated changes in gene expression, which modulates cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion to allow movement. The acquisition of motility and invasive properties following EMT allows some mesenchymal cells to migrate through complex environments to form tissues during embryogenesis; however, these processes may also be leveraged by cancer cells, which often co-opt these endogenous programs to metastasize. Post-transcriptional regulation is now emerging as a major conserved mechanism by which cells modulate EMT and migration, which we discuss here in the context of vertebrate development and cancer.
细胞已经进化出多种机制来迁移以实现不同的生物学功能。在多细胞生物的细胞迁移过程中，经常会发生上皮-间充质转化（EMT）。在 EMT 过程中，黏附的上皮细胞经历协调的细胞转变，从而向间充质细胞转化并减少细胞间的连接。这是通过严格调控基因表达的变化来实现的，这种变化调节细胞-细胞和细胞-基质的黏附，以允许细胞运动。EMT 后获得的运动性和侵袭性使一些间充质细胞能够在胚胎发生过程中通过复杂的环境迁移形成组织；然而，癌细胞也可能利用这些内源性程序进行转移。转录后调控现在成为细胞调节 EMT 和迁移的主要保守机制，我们将在本文中从脊椎动物发育和癌症的角度讨论这一机制。
