Roles and epigenetic regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and its transcription factors in cancer initiation and progression.

摘要: The epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a crucial developmental process by which epithelial cells undergo mesenchymal phenotypic change. During EMT, epigenetic mechanisms including DNA methylation and histone modifications are involved in the regulation of EMT-related genes. gene silencing marker E-cadherin has been well characterized. In particular, three major transcriptional repressors E-cadherin, Snail, ZEB, Twist families, also known as EMT-inducing transcription factors (EMT-TFs), play role this cooperating with multiple modifiers. Furthermore, recent studies have identified novel modifiers that control expression EMT-TFs, these emerged critical regulators cancer development therapeutic targets for human cancer. review, diverse functions EMT-TFs progression, cooperative modifiers, regulatory roles will be discussed.