title: Roles and epigenetic regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and its transcription factors in cancer initiation and progression.
abstract: The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a crucial developmental process by which epithelial cells undergo a mesenchymal phenotypic change. During EMT, epigenetic mechanisms including DNA methylation and histone modifications are involved in the regulation of EMT-related genes. The epigenetic gene silencing of the epithelial marker E-cadherin has been well characterized. In particular, three major transcriptional repressors of E-cadherin, Snail, ZEB, and Twist families, also known as EMT-inducing transcription factors (EMT-TFs), play a crucial role in this process by cooperating with multiple epigenetic modifiers. Furthermore, recent studies have identified the novel epigenetic modifiers that control the expression of EMT-TFs, and these modifiers have emerged as critical regulators of cancer development and as novel therapeutic targets for human cancer. In this review, the diverse functions of EMT-TFs in cancer progression, the cooperative mechanisms of EMT-TFs with epigenetic modifiers, and epigenetic regulatory roles for the expression of EMT-TFs will be discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Bioengineering and Biopharmaceutical Research (IBBR), Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong-Yeon
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea. gkong@hanyang.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Gu
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D063646:Carcinogenesis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014157:Transcription Factors
keywords: Chromatin; DNA methylation; EMT; EMT transcription factor; Epigenetics; Histone modification; Human cancer