Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition is dispensable for metastasis but induces chemoresistance in pancreatic cancer.

ABSTRACT: Diagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is associated with a dismal prognosis despite current best therapies; therefore new treatment strategies are urgently required. Numerous studies have suggested that epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) contributes to early-stage dissemination of cancer cells and is pivotal for invasion and metastasis of PDAC. EMT is associated with phenotypic conversion of epithelial cells into mesenchymal-like cells in cell culture conditions, although such defined mesenchymal conversion (with spindle-shaped morphology) of epithelial cells in vivo is rare, with quasi-mesenchymal phenotypes occasionally observed in the tumour (partial EMT). Most studies exploring the functional role of EMT in tumours have depended on cell-culture-induced loss-of-fu

SUBMITTER: Zheng X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4849281 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature