Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a cellular process by which epithelial cells lose their characteristics and acquire mesenchymal traits to promote cell movement. This program is aberrantly activated in human cancers and endows tumor cells with increased abilities in tumor initiation, cell migration, invasion, metastasis, and therapy resistance. The EMT program in tumors is rarely binary and often leads to a series of gradual or intermediate epithelial-mesenchymal states. Functionally, epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity (EMP) improves the fitness of cancer cells during tumor progression and in response to therapies. Here, we discuss the most recent advances in our understanding of the diverse roles of EMP in tumor initiation, progression, metastasis, and therapy resistance and address major clinical challenges due to EMP-driven phenotypic heterogeneity in cancer. Uncovering novel molecular markers and key regulators of EMP in cancer will aid the development of new therapeutic strategies to prevent cancer recurrence and overcome therapy resistance.

中文翻译：

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癌症进展中上皮间质可塑性的最新进展


上皮-间质转化（EMT）是上皮细胞失去其特征并获得间质特征以促进细胞运动的细胞过程。该程序在人类癌症中被异常激活，并赋予肿瘤细胞增强肿瘤发生、细胞迁移、侵袭、转移和治疗抵抗的能力。肿瘤中的 EMT 程序很少是二元的，并且经常导致一系列渐进或中间的上皮间质状态。从功能上讲，上皮间充质可塑性（EMP）可改善肿瘤进展过程中癌细胞的适应性以及对治疗的反应。在这里，我们讨论了对 EMP 在肿瘤发生、进展、转移和治疗耐药中不同作用的理解的最新进展，并解决了由于 EMP 驱动的癌症表型异质性而产生的主要临床挑战。发现癌症中 EMP 的新分子标记和关键调节因子将有助于开发新的治疗策略，以预防癌症复发并克服治疗耐药性。