Key signalling nodes in mammary gland development and cancer. The Snail1-Twist1 conspiracy in malignant breast cancer progression

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, and despite significant advances in diagnosing and treating it, metastatic spread of cancer cells results in a high mortality rate. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an embryonic program in which epithelial cells lose their characteris...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Breast cancer research : BCR 2010-01, Vol.12 (3), p.206-206, Article 206
Main Authors: Foubert, Ellen, De Craene, Bram, Berx, Geert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Breast cancer
Breast Neoplasms - metabolism
Breast Neoplasms - pathology
Cancer metastasis
Conspiracy
Development and progression
Disease Progression
DNA binding proteins
Epithelial Cells - metabolism
Epithelial Cells - pathology
Female
Health aspects
Humans
Mesoderm - metabolism
Mesoderm - pathology
Mortality
Nuclear Proteins - metabolism
Review
Snail Family Transcription Factors
Stem cells
Transcription Factors - metabolism
Twist-Related Protein 1 - metabolism
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Summary:Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, and despite significant advances in diagnosing and treating it, metastatic spread of cancer cells results in a high mortality rate. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an embryonic program in which epithelial cells lose their characteristics and gain mesenchymal features. Therefore, EMT might play a very important role during malignant tumour progression. In this review we summarise recent advances in breast cancer research with a particular focus on the transcription factors Snail1 and Twist1. Besides discussing the role of EMT in normal mammary gland development, we describe regulatory mechanisms involving newly discovered upstream regulators and microRNAs, the association of EMT with breast cancer stem cells, and the involvement of the tumour microenvironment in breast cancer progression.
ISSN:1465-542X
1465-5411
1465-542X
DOI:10.1186/bcr2585