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Review
. 2017 Aug 3;9(8):101.
doi: 10.3390/cancers9080101.

Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition and MicroRNAs in Lung Cancer

Antoine Legras  1   2 , Nicolas Pécuchet  3   4 , Sandrine Imbeaud  5 , Karine Pallier  6 , Audrey Didelot  7 , Hélène Roussel  8   9 , Laure Gibault  10 , Elizabeth Fabre  11   12 , Françoise Le Pimpec-Barthes  13   14 , Pierre Laurent-Puig  15   16 , Hélène Blons  17   18
Affiliations
Review

Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition and MicroRNAs in Lung Cancer

Antoine Legras et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Despite major advances, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains the major cause of cancer-related death in developed countries. Metastasis and drug resistance are the main factors contributing to relapse and death. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a complex molecular and cellular process involved in tissue remodelling that was extensively studied as an actor of tumour progression, metastasis and drug resistance in many cancer types and in lung cancers. Here we described with an emphasis on NSCLC how the changes in signalling pathways, transcription factors expression or microRNAs that occur in cancer promote EMT. Understanding the biology of EMT will help to define reversing process and treatment strategies. We will see that this complex mechanism is related to inflammation, cell mobility and stem cell features and that it is a dynamic process. The existence of intermediate phenotypes and tumour heterogeneity may be debated in the literature concerning EMT markers, EMT signatures and clinical consequences in NSCLC. However, given the role of EMT in metastasis and in drug resistance the development of EMT inhibitors is an interesting approach to counteract tumour progression and drug resistance. This review describes EMT involvement in cancer with an emphasis on NSCLC and microRNA regulation.

Keywords: biomarkers; epithelial-mesenchymal transition; lung neoplasms; microRNAs; tumour.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
EMT regulation by miR in cancer, a complex network (Colour legend: green, promote EMT; red, suppress EMT; blue, controversial) (adapted from [117,205,206,207,208,209,210]).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Hallmarks of the complex regulation of EMT in NSCLC. The regulation of EMT in NSCLC is based on several intricate conditions and actors, detailed in the Section 4 (adapted from [24,44,111,116,148,191,202,206,207,216,220,221]).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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