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Updated: Apr 25, 2026

Induction and Analysis of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition
Published on: August 27, 2013
Autophagy deficiency stabilizes TWIST1 to promote epithelial-mesenchymal transition
1Section of Dermatology; Department of Medicine; University of Chicago; Chicago, IL USA.
Abstract:
The transcription factor TWIST1 is a basic helix-loop-helix protein that regulates epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in early embryonic morphogenesis, cancer development, and cancer metastasis. The regulation of TWIST1 remains poorly understood. Recently, we found that autophagy deficiency stabilizes TWIST1 protein through SQSTM1/p62 accumulation. SQSTM1 binds with TWIST1 to inhibit TWIST1 degradation in both autophagosomes and proteasomes. SQSTM1-mediated TWIST1 stabilization promotes EMT in vitro, and tumor growth and metastasis in mice. We propose autophagy as a new mechanism to control the TWIST1 protein levels and activity in cancer development and progression.
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