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PMID: 20594364 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Review

Key signalling nodes in mammary gland development and cancer. The Snail1-Twist1 conspiracy in malignant breast cancer progression.

Breast cancer research : BCR ·Vol. 12 ·No. 3 ·2010-00-00 ·Pages 206

Foubert E, De Craene B, Berx G

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, and despite significant advances in diagnosing and treating it, metastatic spread of cancer cells results in a high mortality rate. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an embryonic program in which epithelial cells lose their characteristics and gain mesenchymal features. Therefore, EMT might play a very important role during malignant tumour progression. In this review we summarise recent advances in breast cancer research with a particular focus on the transcription factors Snail1 and Twist1. Besides discussing the role of EMT in normal mammary gland development, we describe regulatory mechanisms involving newly discovered upstream regulators and microRNAs, the association of EMT with breast cancer stem cells, and the involvement of the tumour microenvironment in breast cancer progression.

MeSH Terms
Breast Neoplasms/metabolism,pathology Disease Progression Epithelial Cells/metabolism,pathology Female Humans Mesoderm/metabolism,pathology Nuclear Proteins/metabolism Snail Family Transcription Factors Transcription Factors/metabolism Twist-Related Protein 1/metabolism
Chemicals
Nuclear Proteins SNAI1 protein, human Snail Family Transcription Factors TWIST1 protein, human Transcription Factors Twist-Related Protein 1
Authors & Affiliations
3 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Foubert Ellen
Molecular and Cellular Oncology Unit, Department for Molecular Biomedical Research, VIB, Ghent University,Ghent, Belgium. Ellen.Foubert@dmbr.vib-ugent.be
De Craene Bram
Berx Geert
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Article Info
Journal
Breast cancer research : BCR
Abbr.
Breast Cancer Res
ISSN
1465-542X
DOI
10.1186/bcr2585
Email
ellen.foubert@dmbr.vib-ugent.be
Published
2010-00-00
Epub
2010-00-25
Pages
206
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
100927353
PMCID
PMC2917026
Subset
IM
Grants
Worldwide Cancer Research · 06-0570 · United Kingdom
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1186/bcr2585 PMC Full Text View journal details
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