The Role of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Therapies Resistance and Cancer Metastasis

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Metastasis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 19 January 2025 | Viewed by 2002

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Institut de Cancerologie Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France
Interests: EMT; cancer

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a rapid process involving epithelial cell loosening adhesion structures within a population of polarized and differentiated neighbor cells. These cells loose polarity, strongly remodel their cytoskeleton and engage in a motile individualized phenotype. EMT phases are described in most pluricellular organisms as developmental steps, including during gastrulation, neural crest formation and heart morphogenesis. They are typically controlled by several families of very conserved EMT-associated transcription factors (EMTaTF), emerging first in cnidaria and expressed through the animal kingdom. In cancer, a range of EMT-associated phenotypes can be characterized, in links with progression and metastasis, coupled with specific cellular responses such as stemness, heterogeneity and resistance to treatment and immune response. The EMT International Association (TEMTIA) was founded 20 years ago to study all aspects of EMT, embracing physiological and cancer-related EMT occurrences. The last symposium took place last November in Paris, France. It included speakers from various relevant fields, including developmental biology, cancer, metabolism, immune response and evolutionary biology. This Special Issue will report the main new findings and the new emerging concepts and perspectives, directly from the speakers.

Dr. Pierre Savagner
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • epithelial-mesenchymal transition
  • plasticity
  • resistance
  • immune response
  • stemness
  • invasion
  • metabolism
  • metastasis
  • development

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 4604 KiB  
Article
Investigating the Role of SNAI1 and ZEB1 Expression in Prostate Cancer Progression and Immune Modulation of the Tumor Microenvironment
by William Lautert-Dutra, Camila Morais Melo, Luiz Paulo Chaves, Francisco Cesar Sousa, Cheryl Crozier, Dan Dion, Filipe S. Avante, Fabiano Pinto Saggioro, Rodolfo Borges dos Reis, Leticia Fröhlich Archangelo, Jane Bayani and Jeremy A. Squire
Cancers 2024, 16(8), 1480; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16081480 - 12 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1535
Abstract
Prostate cancer (PCa) is an immunologically cold tumor and the molecular processes that underlie this behavior are poorly understood. In this study, we investigated a primary cohort of intermediate-risk PCa (n = 51) using two NanoString profiling panels designed to study cancer [...] Read more.
Prostate cancer (PCa) is an immunologically cold tumor and the molecular processes that underlie this behavior are poorly understood. In this study, we investigated a primary cohort of intermediate-risk PCa (n = 51) using two NanoString profiling panels designed to study cancer progression and immune response. We identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and pathways associated with biochemical recurrence (BCR) and clinical risk. Confirmatory analysis was performed using the TCGA-PRAD cohort. Noteworthy DEGs included collagens such as COL1A1, COL1A2, and COL3A1. Changes in the distribution of collagens may influence the immune activity in the tumor microenvironment (TME). In addition, immune-related DEGs such as THY1, IRF5, and HLA-DRA were also identified. Enrichment analysis highlighted pathways such as those associated with angiogenesis, TGF-beta, UV response, and EMT. Among the 39 significant DEGs, 11 (28%) were identified as EMT target genes for ZEB1 using the Harmonizome database. Elevated ZEB1 expression correlated with reduced BCR risk. Immune landscape analysis revealed that ZEB1 was associated with increased immunosuppressive cell types in the TME, such as naïve B cells and M2 macrophages. Increased expression of both ZEB1 and SNAI1 was associated with elevated immune checkpoint expression. In the future, modulation of EMT could be beneficial for overcoming immunotherapy resistance in a cold tumor, such as PCa. Full article
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