title: Unraveling the TWIST between EMT and cancer stemness.
abstract: Twist1 has a well-established role in inducing Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) to promote tumor invasion and metastasis and can also inhibit apoptosis and confer stemness. In this issue of Cell Stem Cell, Beck et al. (2015) now show that low levels of Twist1 are essential for tumor initiation, maintenance, and stemness independent of its EMT-inducing activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0819, USA.
authors.forename: Hae-Yun
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0819, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0819, USA; Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0819, USA. Electronic address: jingyang@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D063646:Carcinogenesis / Q000378:metabolism*; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D051879:Twist-Related Protein 1 / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D051879:Twist-Related Protein 1