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Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Studying TGF-β Signaling and TGF-β-induced Epithelial-to-mesenchymal Transition in Breast Cancer and Normal Cells
Published on: October 27, 2020
TGF-beta signaling: a tale of two responses
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Thoracic Diseases Research Unit, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA.
Abstract:
Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) regulates a wide variety of cellular processes including cell growth, apoptosis, differentiation, migration, and extracellular matrix production among others. The canonical signaling pathway induced by the TGF-beta receptor complex involves the phosphorylation of Smad proteins which upon activation accumulate in the nucleus and regulate transcription. Interestingly, the cellular response to TGF-beta can be extremely variable depending on the cell type and stimulation context. TGF-beta causes epithelial cells to undergo growth arrest and apoptosis, responses which are critical to suppressing carcinogenesis, whereas it can also induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition and mediate fibroblast activation, responses implicated in promoting carcinogenesis and fibrotic diseases. However, TGF-beta induces all these responses via the same receptor complex and Smad proteins. To address this apparent paradox, during the last few years a number of additional signaling pathways have been identified which potentially regulate the different cellular responses to TGF-beta. The identification of these signaling pathways has shed light onto the mechanisms whereby Smad and non-Smad pathways collaborate to induce a particular cellular phenotype. In this article, we review TGF-beta signaling in epithelial cells and fibroblasts with a focus on understanding the mechanisms of TGF-beta versatility.
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