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Updated: Feb 13, 2026
10:37
Induction and Analysis of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition
Published on: August 27, 2013
36.6K
Controlling Stochasticity in Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Through Multiple Intermediate Cellular States.
Catherine Ha Ta1, Qing Nie1, Tian Hong1
1Department of Mathematics, Univ. of California Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-3875, USA.
Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems. Series B
|March 3, 2018
Summary
Multiple intermediate phenotypes in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) stabilize cell populations. More sub-states increase stem cell population stability, revealing a systems design advantage for heterogeneous cell populations.
Area of Science:
- Cellular plasticity and developmental biology
- Cancer progression and stem cell research
- Mathematical modeling in biological systems
Background:
- Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a crucial cellular process involved in development, regeneration, and cancer.
- EMT is increasingly understood as a multi-step, reversible process with potential intermediate phenotypes.
- The functional significance of these intermediate states and their role in stem cell populations remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the functional role of multiple intermediate phenotypes in the EMT spectrum.
- To determine how intermediate states contribute to the stability of heterogeneous cell populations.
- To elucidate the design principles governing heterogeneous stem cell populations.
Main Methods:
- Development and analysis of mathematical models simulating the EMT process.
- Quantification of population fluctuations and stability under varying numbers of intermediate phenotypes.
- Investigation of noise attenuation mechanisms within the EMT system.
Main Results:
- Multiple intermediate phenotypes in EMT attenuate population fluctuations, stabilizing heterogeneous cell compositions.
- The system's noise attenuation capacity is directly dependent on the number of intermediate states.
- Increased numbers of intermediate stem cell sub-states enhance overall population stability.
Conclusions:
- The existence of multiple intermediate EMT phenotypes offers a systems-level advantage by stabilizing cell populations.
- Heterogeneous stem cell populations benefit from a greater number of sub-states for enhanced stability.
- This study provides insights into the design principles of robust, heterogeneous stem cell systems.
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