Targeting Epithelial–Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) to Overcome Drug Resistance in Cancer

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is known to play an important role in cancer progression, metastasis and drug resistance. Although there are controversies surrounding the causal relationship between EMT and cancer metastasis, the role of EMT in cancer drug resistance has been increasingly recognized. Numerous EMT-related signaling pathways are involved in drug resistance in cancer cells. Cells undergoing EMT show a feature similar to cancer stem cells (CSCs), such as an increase in drug efflux pumps and anti-apoptotic effects. Therefore, targeting EMT has been considered a novel opportunity to overcome cancer drug resistance. This review describes the mechanism by which EMT contributes to drug…

• UD
  Universidade de Macau

  Award: MYRG2015-00181-FHS
• FP
  Fundo para o Desenvolvimento das Ciências e da Tecnologia

  Awards: FDCT/024/2015/A1, FDCT/119/2013/A3