title: A twist tale of cancer metastasis and tumor angiogenesis.
abstract: Twist1 is an evolutionally conserved transcription factor. Originally identified in Drosophila as a key regulator for mesoderm development, it was later implicated in many human diseases, including Saethre-Chotzen syndrome and cancer. Twist1's involvement in cancer has been well recognized. Driven by hypoxia-induced factor-1 (HIF-1), Twist1 has been considered as a proto-oncogene and its overexpression has been observed in a wide variety of human cancers. High expression level of Twist1 is closely related to tumor aggressiveness and metastatic potential. In cancer cells, Twist1 has been shown to function as a key regulator of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a critical process for metastasis initiation. Twist1 has also been implicated in maintaining cancer stemness for self-renewal and chemoresistance. This review first summarizes the roles of Twist1 in embryo development and Saethre-Chotzen syndrome followed by a discussion of Twist1's critical functions in cancer. In particular, the review focuses on the recent discovery of Twist1's capability to promote endothelial transdifferentiation of cancer cells beyond EMT.
authors.affiliation: PerkinElmer Inc., Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA and Research Center for Tumor Medical Science, Graduate Institute of Cancer Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jen-Chieh
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Tumor Medical Science, Graduate Institute of Cancer Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsiao-Fan
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Tumor Medical Science, Graduate Institute of Cancer Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. wukj@mail.cmu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Kou-Juey
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000168:Acrocephalosyndactylia / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002465:Cell Movement; D054338:Cell Transdifferentiation; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D009024:Morphogenesis; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010641:Phenotype; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D015398:Signal Transduction; D051879:Twist-Related Protein 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; C103173:TWIST1 protein, human; D051879:Twist-Related Protein 1