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PMID: 21392411 Published · epublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Review

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer stem cells: a dangerously dynamic duo in breast cancer progression.

Breast cancer research : BCR ·Vol. 13 ·No. 1 ·2011-02-08 ·Pages 202

May CD, Sphyris N, Evans KW, Werden SJ, Guo W, Mani SA

Abstract

Aberrant activation of a latent embryonic program - known as the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) - can endow cancer cells with the migratory and invasive capabilities associated with metastatic competence. The induction of EMT entails the loss of epithelial characteristics and the de novo acquisition of a mesenchymal phenotype. In breast cancer, the EMT state has been associated with cancer stem cell properties including expression of the stem cell-associated CD44+/CD24-/low antigenic profile, self-renewal capabilities and resistance to conventional therapies. Intriguingly, EMT features are also associated with stem cells isolated from the normal mouse mammary gland and human breast reduction tissues as well as the highly aggressive metaplastic and claudin-low breast tumor subtypes. This has implications for the origin of these breast tumors as it remains unclear whether they derive from cells that have undergone EMT or whether they represent an expansion of a pre-existing stem cell population that expresses EMT-associated markers to begin with. In the present review, we consider the current evidence connecting EMT and stem cell attributes and discuss the ramifications of these newly recognized links for our understanding of the emergence of distinct breast cancer subtypes and breast cancer progression.

MeSH Terms
Animals Biomarkers/metabolism Breast Neoplasms/drug therapy,genetics,metabolism Cell Dedifferentiation Disease Progression Drug Resistance, Neoplasm/genetics Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition/genetics Female Humans Mammary Glands, Animal/cytology Mammary Glands, Human/cytology Mice Molecular Targeted Therapy Neoplastic Stem Cells/metabolism,pathology Stem Cells/cytology,metabolism
Chemicals
Biomarkers
Authors & Affiliations
6 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
May Caitlin D
Department of Molecular Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77054, USA.
Sphyris Nathalie
Evans Kurt W
Werden Steven J
Guo Wenjun
Mani Sendurai A
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Article Info
Journal
Breast cancer research : BCR
Abbr.
Breast Cancer Res
ISSN
1465-542X
DOI
10.1186/bcr2789
Published
2011-02-08
Epub
2011-00-08
Pages
202
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
100927353
PMCID
PMC3109556
Subset
IM
Grants
NCI NIH HHS · 3R01CA138239-02S1 · United States
NCI NIH HHS · CA016672 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1186/bcr2789 PMC Full Text View journal details
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