Summary:
The epithelial-mesenchymal transition is a biological phenomenon scientifically
documented on tissue level, which is characterized by significant intracellular
molecular changes with an impact on phenotypic differentiation in mesenchymal
cell type.
This phenomenon plays a crucial role in organogenesis during the fetal period
while significantly contributes to tissue repair after tissue damage. In
pathological level EMT seems increasingly to be a fundamental process in
cancerous infiltration and metastasis of malignant neoplasm while recently
important information coming to light regarding the relationship between EMT
and fibrosis. In this work we review the most recent literature on the
phenomenon of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and how this is associated with
lung cancer , a neoplasm, which is today one of the most frequent types of
malignancy.
In the first chapter a general reference on lung cancer is being made, by
analyzing some evidence of molecular biology. The second chapter examines the
phenomenon of EMT with particular reference to the physiology and
classification. The third chapter discusses the relationship between lung
cancer and EMT , while the fourth , introduces and discusses concepts such as
chemotherapy resistance of the EMT transformed cancer cells and the relative
stemness properties that this phenomenon can confer at the same cells. The
review is accomplished by a reference to the latest developments in research on
EMT.
Keywords:
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition, Lung cancer, Cancer invasive phenotype, Chemoresistant, Cancer stem cells
