Subbalakshmi Ayalur Raghu, Ramisetty Sravani, Mohanty Atish, Pareek Siddhika, Do Dana, Shrestha Sagun, Khan Ajaz, Talwar Neel, Tan Tingting, Vishnubhotla Priya, Singhal Sharad S, Salgia Ravi, Kulkarni Prakash
Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA 91010, USA.
Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, City of Hope Phoenix, Goodyear, AZ 85338, USA.
J Clin Med. 2024 Jul 23;13(15):4302. doi: 10.3390/jcm13154302.
Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a major axis of phenotypic plasticity not only in diseased conditions such as cancer metastasis and fibrosis but also during normal development and wound healing. Yet-another important axis of plasticity with metastatic implications includes the cancer stem cell (CSCs) and non-CSC transitions. However, in both processes, epithelial (E) and mesenchymal (M) phenotypes are not merely binary states. Cancer cells acquire a spectrum of phenotypes with traits, properties, and markers of both E and M phenotypes, giving rise to intermediary hybrid (E/M) phenotypes. E/M cells play an important role in tumor initiation, metastasis, and disease progression in multiple cancers. Furthermore, the hybrid phenotypes also play a major role in causing therapeutic resistance in cancer. Here, we discuss how a systems biology perspective on the problem, which is implicit in the 'Team Medicine' approach outlined in the theme of this Special Issue of and includes an interdisciplinary team of experts, is more likely to shed new light on EMT in cancer and help us to identify novel therapeutics and strategies to target phenotypic plasticity in cancer.
上皮-间质转化（EMT）不仅是疾病状态（如癌症转移和纤维化）下，也是正常发育和伤口愈合过程中表型可塑性的一个主要轴。另一个具有转移意义的重要可塑性轴包括癌症干细胞（CSCs）和非CSC的转变。然而，在这两个过程中，上皮（E）和间质（M）表型并非仅仅是二元状态。癌细胞获得了一系列具有E和M表型特征、特性和标志物的表型，从而产生中间杂种（E/M）表型。E/M细胞在多种癌症的肿瘤起始、转移和疾病进展中发挥重要作用。此外，杂种表型在导致癌症治疗耐药性方面也起主要作用。在此，我们讨论如何从系统生物学角度看待这个问题，这在本期特刊主题中概述的“团队医学”方法中是隐含的，并且包括一个跨学科专家团队，这种角度更有可能为癌症中的EMT带来新的见解，并帮助我们识别针对癌症表型可塑性的新型治疗方法和策略。
