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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Induction and Analysis of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition
10:37

Induction and Analysis of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition

Published on: August 27, 2013

The transcription factor snail induces tumor cell invasion through modulation of the epithelial cell differentiation

Bram De Craene1, Barbara Gilbert, Christophe Stove

  • 1Unit of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, Department for Molecular Biomedical Research, VIB-Ghent University, Belgium.

Cancer Research
|July 19, 2005
PubMed

Insights

The transcription factor Snail drives cancer progression by repressing epithelial genes. This master switch induces a dedifferentiation program, leading to cell invasion and malignant carcinoma formation.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

Background:

  • Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is crucial for tumor progression.
  • Snail is a key transcription factor that induces EMT by repressing E-cadherin.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of Snail in colorectal cancer.
  • To elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which Snail induces malignant phenotypes.

Main Methods:

  • Conditional expression of Snail in colorectal cancer cells.
  • Analysis of Snail target genes involved in cell morphology and cytoskeleton.
  • Chromatin immunoprecipitation to assess Snail binding to target gene promoters.

Main Results:

  • Snail expression induced epithelial dedifferentiation and altered cell morphology.
  • Snail modulated genes controlling junctional complexes, intermediate filaments, and actin cytoskeleton.
  • Snail directly repressed epithelial genes, promoting cell aggregation loss and invasion.

Conclusions:

  • Snail acts as a master switch for epithelial-mesenchymal transition in cancer.
  • Direct repression of epithelial genes by Snail leads to malignant carcinoma development.

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