Interplay of EMT and CSC in Cancer and the Potential Therapeutic Strategies

Abstract

The mechanism of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) consists of the cellular phenotypic transition from epithelial to mesenchymal status. The cells exhibiting EMT exist in cancer stem cell (CSC) population, which is involved in drug resistance. CSCs demonstrating EMT feature remain after cancer treatment, which leads to drug resistance, recurrence, metastasis and malignancy of cancer. In this context, the recent advance of nanotechnology in the medical application has ascended the possibility to target CSCs using nanomedicines. In this review article, we focused on the mechanism of CSCs and EMT, especially into the signaling pathways in EMT, regulation of EMT and CSCs by microRNAs and nanomedicine-based approaches to target CSCs.

Keywords: cancer stem cell; epithelial-mesenchymal transition; microRNA; nanomedicine; signaling pathway.

Figure 1

The complexity model scheme for the linkage between epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer stem cell (CSC) concept. The CSC subpopulations exhibit the EMT phenotypes. The EMT and CSC pathways are regulated at gene level in several signaling pathways, where the plasticity is important for the cancer resistance.