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Updated: May 27, 2026

An Enzyme- and Serum-free Neural Stem Cell Culture Model for EMT Investigation Suited for Drug Discovery
Published on: August 23, 2016
EMT and MET as paradigms for cell fate switching
Jiekai Chen1, Qingkai Han, Duanqing Pei
1Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, South China Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510530, China.
Abstract:
Cell fate determination is a major unsolved problem in cell and developmental biology. The discovery of reprogramming by pluripotent factors offers a rational system to investigate the molecular mechanisms associated with cell fate decisions. The idea that reprogramming of fibroblasts starts with a mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) suggests that the process is perhaps a reversal of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) found frequently during early embryogenesis. As such, we believe that investigations into MET-EMT may yield detailed molecular insights into cell fate decisions, not only for the switching between epithelial and mesenchymal cells, but also other cell types.
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