Abstract
The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) encompasses a complex cascade of events through which a cell transits to reduce its epithelial characteristics and become migratory. Classically, this transition has been considered complete upon loss of molecular markers characteristic of an “epithelial” state and acquisition of those associated with “mesenchymal” cells. Recently, however, evidence from both developmental and cancer EMT contexts suggest that cells undergoing EMT are often heterogeneous, concomitantly expressing both epithelial and mesenchymal markers to varying degrees; rather, cells frequently display a “partial” EMT phenotype and do not necessarily require full “mesenchymalization” to become migratory. Here, we offer a brief perspective on recent important advances in our fundamental understanding of the spectrum of cellular states that occur during partial EMT in the context of development and cancer metastasis.
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Acknowledgments
We thank members of the Bronner lab for helpful discussions. The authors are supported by the National Institutes of Health K99 DE028592 (E.J. Hutchins), R01DE027538 and P01 HD037105 (M.E. Bronner).
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Hutchins, E.J., Bronner, M.E. (2021). A Spectrum of Cell States During the Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition. In: Campbell, K., Theveneau, E. (eds) The Epithelial-to Mesenchymal Transition. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2179. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-0779-4_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-0779-4_1
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