TY - JOUR
T1 - Emerging role of mucins in epithelial to mesenchymal transition
AU - Ponnusamy, Moorthy P.
AU - Seshacharyulu, Parthasarathy
AU - Lakshmanan, Imayavaramban
AU - Vaz, Arokia P.
AU - Chugh, Seema
AU - Batra, Surinder K.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an important and complex phenomenon that determines the aggressiveness of cancer cells. The morphological transformation of cancerous cells is accompanied by various cellular processes such as alterations in cell-cell adhesion, cell matrix degradation, down regulation of epithelial marker E-cadherin and upregulation of mesenchymal markers N-cadherin and Vimentin. Besides these markers several other important tumor antigens/mucins are also involved in the EMT process. Mainly high molecular weight glycoproteins such as mucin molecules (MUC1, MUC4 and MUC16) play a major role in the cellular transformation and signaling alteration in EMT process. In addition to these factors, EMT may be an essential process triggering the emergence or expansion of the CSC population, which slowly results in the initiation of tumor at metastatic sites. Furthermore, mucins have been demonstrated to be involved in the EMT process and also in the enrichment of cancer stem cell population. Mucin mediated EMT is very complex since the key components of tumor microenvironment are also regulating mucin molecules. In this review, we have discussed all the aforementioned factors and their mechanistic involvement for EMT process.
AB - Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an important and complex phenomenon that determines the aggressiveness of cancer cells. The morphological transformation of cancerous cells is accompanied by various cellular processes such as alterations in cell-cell adhesion, cell matrix degradation, down regulation of epithelial marker E-cadherin and upregulation of mesenchymal markers N-cadherin and Vimentin. Besides these markers several other important tumor antigens/mucins are also involved in the EMT process. Mainly high molecular weight glycoproteins such as mucin molecules (MUC1, MUC4 and MUC16) play a major role in the cellular transformation and signaling alteration in EMT process. In addition to these factors, EMT may be an essential process triggering the emergence or expansion of the CSC population, which slowly results in the initiation of tumor at metastatic sites. Furthermore, mucins have been demonstrated to be involved in the EMT process and also in the enrichment of cancer stem cell population. Mucin mediated EMT is very complex since the key components of tumor microenvironment are also regulating mucin molecules. In this review, we have discussed all the aforementioned factors and their mechanistic involvement for EMT process.
KW - Cancer stem cells
KW - EMT signaling
KW - EMT transcription factors
KW - MUC1
KW - MUC16
KW - MUC4
KW - Mucins
KW - Tumor microenvironment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84890825478&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84890825478&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2174/15680096113136660100
DO - 10.2174/15680096113136660100
M3 - Review article
C2 - 24168188
AN - SCOPUS:84890825478
VL - 13
SP - 945
EP - 956
JO - Current Cancer Drug Targets
JF - Current Cancer Drug Targets
SN - 1568-0096
IS - 9
ER -