review.ifom.eu Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) is a reversible process that triggers the loss of epithelial cell features, such as apico-basal polarity and intercellular adhesions, along with the gain of mesenchymal characteristics, including cytoskeletal rearrangements, individual migratory ability and invasiveness. In addition to its roles in embryo development and organ formation, EM...

PURPOSE To investigate the effects of pirfenidone (PFD) on the migration, differentiation, and proliferation of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells and demonstrate whether the drug induces cytotoxicity. METHODS Human RPE cells (line D407) were treated with various concentrations of PFD. Cell migration was measured with scratch assay. The protein levels of fibronectin (FN), connective tissu...

Integrin-linked kinase (ILK) is an intracellular serine/threonine protein kinase that regulates cell adhesion, survival, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In this study, we investigated the kinase activity of ILK during tubular EMT induced by TGF-beta1 and examined the therapeutic potential of an ILK inhibitor in obstructive nephropathy. TGF-beta1 induced a biphasic activation of ...

Snail and Zeb transcription factors induce epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in embryonic and adult tissues by direct repression of E-cadherin transcription. The repression of E-cadherin transcription by the EMT inducers Snail1 and Zeb2 plays a fundamental role in defining embryonic territories in the mouse, as E-cadherin needs to be downregulated in the primitive streak and in the epi...

Nitric oxide synthase-3 (NOS3) has recently been shown to promote endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) in the developing atrioventricular (AV) canal. The present study was aimed to investigate the role of NOS3 in embryonic development of AV valves. We hypothesized that NOS3 promotes embryonic development of AV valves via EndMT. To test this hypothesis, morphological and functional anal...

Functional loss of the cell-cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin is an essential event for epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process that allows cell migration during embryonic development and tumour invasion. In most carcinomas, transcriptional repression has emerged as the main mechanism responsible for E-cadherin downregulation. Here, we report the identification of class I bHLH factor...

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a fundamental characteristic of carcinoma cells. EMT is generally associated with a change in cellular morphology from cobblestone to spindle shape, reduced expression of epithelial markers such as E-cadherin, and enhanced expression of mesenchymal markers such as N-cadherin. This EMT-associated reciprocal expression of E-cadherin and N-cadherin ha...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most malignant and lethal human cancers. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) enhances the carcinogenesis of HCC, and therapies targeting EMT appear to be promising treatments. We have previously shown that Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) suppressed EMT of HCC cells through downregulating EMT-associated proteins. Here, we examined the roles of microR...