To differentiate or not--routes towards metastasis

Thomas Brabletz1

  • 1Department of General and Visceral Surgery and Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Freiburg Medical Center, Hugstetter Str. 55, 79106 Freiburg, Germany. thomas.brabletz@uniklinik-freiburg.de

Summary

Metastatic cancer cells may remain differentiated or undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET). This study proposes two progression types: transient EMT-MET plasticity or sustained EMT and stemness for targeted cancer therapies.