Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Dec 29;22(1):277.
doi: 10.3390/ijms22010277.

Inhibition or Reversal of the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Gastric Cancer: Pharmacological Approaches

Joanna Kozak  1 , Alicja Forma  2 , Marcin Czeczelewski  2 , Paweł Kozyra  3 , Elżbieta Sitarz  4 , Elżbieta Radzikowska-Büchner  5 , Monika Sitarz  6 , Jacek Baj  1
Affiliations
Review

Inhibition or Reversal of the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Gastric Cancer: Pharmacological Approaches

Joanna Kozak et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) constitutes one of the hallmarks of carcinogenesis consisting in the re-differentiation of the epithelial cells into mesenchymal ones changing the cellular phenotype into a malignant one. EMT has been shown to play a role in the malignant transformation and while occurring in the tumor microenvironment, it significantly affects the aggressiveness of gastric cancer, among others. Importantly, after EMT occurs, gastric cancer patients are more susceptible to the induction of resistance to various therapeutic agents, worsening the clinical outcome of patients. Therefore, there is an urgent need to search for the newest pharmacological agents targeting EMT to prevent further progression of gastric carcinogenesis and potential metastases. Therapies targeted at EMT might be combined with other currently available treatment modalities, which seems to be an effective strategy to treat gastric cancer patients. In this review, we have summarized recent advances in gastric cancer treatment in terms of targeting EMT specifically, such as the administration of polyphenols, resveratrol, tangeretin, luteolin, genistein, proton pump inhibitors, terpenes, other plant extracts, or inorganic compounds.

Keywords: EMT; epithelial-mesenchymal transition; gastric cancer; pharmacotherapy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Machlowska J., Baj J., Sitarz M., Maciejewski R., Sitarz R. Gastric Cancer: Epidemiology, Risk Factors, Classification, Genomic Characteristics and Treatment Strategies. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020;21:4012. doi: 10.3390/ijms21114012. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhang X.-Y., Zhang P.-Y. Gastric cancer: Somatic genetics as a guide to therapy. J. Med. Genet. 2016;54:305–312. doi: 10.1136/jmedgenet-2016-104171. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rana N., Gosain R., Lemini R., Wang C., Gabriel E., Mohammed T., Siromoni B., Mukherjee S. Socio-Demographic Disparities in Gastric Adenocarcinoma: A Population-Based Study. Cancers. 2020;12:157. doi: 10.3390/cancers12010157. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ferlay J., Soerjomataram I., Dikshit R., Eser S., Mathers C., Rebelo M., Parkin D.M., Forman D., Bray F. Cancer incidence and mortality worldwide: Sources, methods and major patterns in globocan 2012. Int. J. Cancer. 2015;136:E359–E386. doi: 10.1002/ijc.29210. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bray F., Ren J.S., Masuyer E., Ferlay J. Global estimates of cancer prevalence for 27 sites in the adult population in 2008. Int. J. Cancer. 2013;132:1133–1145. doi: 10.1002/ijc.27711. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms