EMT a crucial developmental process implicated in organ development, tissue repair, and organ fibrosis, plays a major role in cancer progression, invasion, and metastasis.
EMT is defined by the loss of epithelial characteristics and the acquisition of a motile, invasive and migratory mesenchymal phenotype.
This conversion is accompanied by loss of cell-cell adhesion and cell polarity, a decrease in the expression of epithelial markers such as E-cadherin, increase in the expression of mesenchymal markers such as vimentin, fibronectin, N-cadherin, alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), as well as an increase in the activity of matrix metalloproteinases
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