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Updated: Apr 12, 2026

Induction and Analysis of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition
Published on: August 27, 2013
The relevance of EMT in breast cancer metastasis: Correlation or causality?
Ruben Bill1, Gerhard Christofori1
1Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, 4058 Basel, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Although major progress has been achieved in treating breast cancer patients, metastatic breast cancer still remains a deadly disease. A full understanding of the process of systemic cancer cell dissemination is therefore critical to develop next generation therapies. A plethora of experimental data points toward a central role of an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in the multistep cascade of metastasis formation. However, in patients the data are based on correlative studies which often, but not always, tie the expression of EMT markers to cancer invasion, metastasis and poor clinical outcome. Moreover, the notion that cancer cells are able to switch between different modes of migration asks for a thorough review of the actual relevance of EMT in cancer metastasis.
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