The emerging co-regulatory role of long noncoding RNAs in epithelial-mesenchymal transition and the Warburg effect in aggressive tumors

In the last several decades, cancer researchers have reported many distinct hallmarks of tumor cells (Hanahan and Weinberg, 2011). Among the mechanisms that lead to these phenotypes, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is emerging as a central driver of several malignant behaviors (Kalluri and Weinberg, 2009). EMT is well defined as a series of events in which epithelial cells lose their epithelial characteristics, intercellular contacts and cellular polarity, and acquire various features of mesenchymal cells, such as increased motility, invasiveness, and resistance to apoptosis (Thiery et al., 2009).
Source: Critical Reviews in Oncology Hematology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Source Type: research