Epithelial-mesenchymal transitions: the importance of changing cell state in development and disease
Hervé Acloque, Meghan S. Adams, Katherine Fishwick, Marianne Bronner-Fraser, M. Angela Nieto
Hervé Acloque, Meghan S. Adams, Katherine Fishwick, Marianne Bronner-Fraser, M. Angela Nieto
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Epithelial-mesenchymal transitions: the importance of changing cell state in development and disease

Abstract

The events that convert adherent epithelial cells into individual migratory cells that can invade the extracellular matrix are known collectively as epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Throughout evolution, the capacity of cells to switch between these two cellular states has been fundamental in the generation of complex body patterns. Here, we review the EMT events that build the embryo and further discuss two prototypical processes governed by EMT in amniotes: gastrulation and neural crest formation. Cells undergo EMT to migrate and colonize distant territories. Not surprisingly, this is also the mechanism used by cancer cells to disperse throughout the body.

Authors

Hervé Acloque, Meghan S. Adams, Katherine Fishwick, Marianne Bronner-Fraser, M. Angela Nieto

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Figure 4

Similar signaling pathways control the EMTs at gastrulation and neural crest delamination in the amniote embryo.

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Similar signaling pathways control the EMTs at gastrulation and neural c...
Signaling molecules of the TFG-β superfamily (Nodal, Vg1, and BMPs), together with Wnt and FGF, initiate the formation of the primitive streak and operate at the neural folds to drive the ingression of the mesendoderm and the delamination of the neural crest, respectively. Some downstream targets are also conserved, such as the Snail genes. While Snail factors are key regulators of the EMT program during gastrulation, the coordinated induction of several transcription factors is required to control the robust program of neural crest delamination. EPB4L5, FERM and actin-binding domain–containing band 4.1 superfamily member; p38IP, p38-interacting protein; Rho, members of the Rho family of small GTPases.