Review
Key signalling nodes in mammary gland development and cancer. The Snail1-Twist1 conspiracy in malignant breast cancer progression
-
* Corresponding author: Geert Berx Geert.Berx@dmbr.vib-ugent.be
1 Molecular and Cellular Oncology Unit, Department for Molecular Biomedical Research, VIB, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium
2 Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium
Breast Cancer Research 2010, 12:206 doi:10.1186/bcr2585
Published: 25 June 2010Abstract
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.