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50+ shades of EMT in 20 years of embryo−cancer bonding

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 21, page 563 (2020)Cite this article

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The study of embryos holds both promise and surprise. For instance, only after studying the spinal cord of the chicken embryo could Santiago Ramón y Cajal conclude, in the late nineteenth century, that neurons were individual entities, and the neuronal theory came to light, providing the foundation for modern neuroscience. But what can be learnt for the study of embryos is even more surprising, considering they also helped us to understand the spread of cancer cells and the formation of metastases.

The aberrant activation of a developmental programme in cancer soon raised both enthusiasm and scepticism, and the role of EMT in cancer progression has been debated for years. Many factors have prompted debate. The EMT is complex and dynamic, and involves heterogeneous phenotypes resulting from the expression of different, tissue-specific, combinations of EMT transcription factors and from tumour heterogeneity. Therefore, the EMT lacks specific universal markers. Moreover, phenotypes are plastic and usually reversible when cells reach their destination, altogether making EMT very difficult to study. In the vast majority of physiological and pathological EMTs, the phenotypes are intermediate, not corresponding to the pure epithelial or mesenchymal states, as they appear in textbooks.

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  1. Instituto de Neurociencias (CSIC-UMH), Sant Joan d’Alacant, Alicante, Spain

    M. Angela Nieto

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  1. M. Angela Nieto
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Correspondence to M. Angela Nieto.

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Nieto, M.A. 50+ shades of EMT in 20 years of embryo−cancer bonding. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 21, 563 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-020-00287-w

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