Assessing the epithelial-to-mesenchymal plasticity in a small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) and lung fibroblasts co-culture model.

ABSTRACT: The tumor microenvironment (TME) is the source of important cues that govern epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and facilitate the acquisition of aggressive traits by cancer cells. It is now recognized that EMT is not a binary program, and cancer cells rarely switch to a fully mesenchymal phenotype. Rather, cancer cells exist in multiple hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal (E/M) states responsible for cell population heterogeneity, which is advantageous for the ever-changing environment during tumor development and metastasis. How are these intermediate states generated and maintained is not fully understood. Here, we show that direct interaction between small cell lung carcinoma cells and lung fibroblasts induces a hybrid EMT phenotype in cancer cells in which several mesenchymal genes

SUBMITTER: Dhungel N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10022497 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature