EMT Subtype Influences Epithelial Plasticity and Mode of Cell Migration.

ABSTRACT: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is strongly implicated in tumor cell invasion and metastasis. EMT is thought to be regulated primarily at the transcriptional level through the repressive activity of EMT transcription factors. However, these classical mechanisms have been parsed out almost exclusively in vitro, leaving questions about the programs driving EMT in physiological contexts. Here, using a lineage-labeled mouse model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma to study EMT in vivo, we found that most tumors lose their epithelial phenotype through an alternative program involving protein internalization rather than transcriptional repression, resulting in a "partial EMT" phenotype. Carcinoma cells utilizing this program migrate as clusters, contrasting with the single-cell migratio

SUBMITTER: Aiello NM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6014628 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature