Motility and stem cell properties induced by the epithelial-mesenchymal transition require destabilization of lipid rafts.

ABSTRACT: The Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) is a developmental program that provides cancer cells with the characteristics necessary for metastasis, including increased motility and stem cell properties. The cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying this process are not yet fully understood, hampering efforts to develop therapeutics. In recent years, it has become apparent that EMT is accompanied by wholesale changes in diverse signaling pathways that are initiated by proteins at the plasma membrane (PM). The PM contains thousands of lipid and protein species that are dynamically and spatially organized into lateral membrane domains, an example of which are lipid rafts. Since one of the major functions of rafts is modulation of signaling originating at the PM, we hypothesized that the s

SUBMITTER: Tisza MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5239496 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature