Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition: a double-edged sword

Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a physiological process necessary to normal embryologic development. However in genesis of pathological situations, this transition can be perverted and signaling pathways have different regulations from those of normal physiology. In cancer invasion, such...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical and translational medicine 2015-04, Vol.4 (1), p.1-6
Main Authors: Barriere, Guislaine, Fici, Pietro, Gallerani, Giulia, Fabbri, Francesco, Rigaud, Michel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cancer
Clinical medicine
Embryogenesis
EMT
Fibrosis
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Review
Wound healing
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Summary:Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a physiological process necessary to normal embryologic development. However in genesis of pathological situations, this transition can be perverted and signaling pathways have different regulations from those of normal physiology. In cancer invasion, such a mechanism leads to generation of circulating tumor cells. Epithelial cancer cells become motile mesenchymal cells able to shed from the primary tumor and enter in the blood circulation. This is the major part of the invasive way of cancer. EMT is also implicated in chronic diseases like fibrosis and particularly renal fibrosis. In adult organisms, healing is based on EMT which is beneficial to repair wounds even if it can sometimes exceed its goal and elicit fibrosis. In this review, we delineate the clinical significance of EMT in both physiological and pathological circumstances.
ISSN:2001-1326
2001-1326
DOI:10.1186/s40169-015-0055-4