SNAIL

By Jamshed Arslan, Pharm D, PhD

Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) is the trans-differentiation of stationary epithelial cells into motile mesenchymal cells. During EMT, epithelial cells lose their junctions and apical-basal polarity, reorganize their cytoskeleton, undergo a change in the signaling cascade that defines cell shape and reprograms gene expression. Collectively, these changes increase the motility of individual cells and enables the development of an invasive phenotype.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a natural process by which epithelial cells lose their polarity and intercellular adhesion, and gain the migratory invasive properties of mesenchymal stem cells that can differentiate into a variety of cell types. EMT is critical to many developmental processes including embryo development and wound healing. However, EMT is also a fundamental step in the initiation of metastasis during cancer progression.