乳腺癌上皮间质转化与耐药关系的研究进展

Research progress on relationship between epithelial-mesenchymal transitions and drug resistance in breast cancer

肿瘤上皮-间质转化(epithelial-mesenchymal transitions,EMT)是指肿瘤在各种因素作用下上皮细胞转变为具有高侵袭、转移能力间质表型的过程。EMT与细胞上皮表型标志物E-钙黏蛋白表达下调、间质表型标志物上调和相关基因表达改变有关。EMT的发生能够促进乳腺癌侵袭、转移和干细胞特性获得,诱导乳腺癌细胞对化疗、内分泌治疗和靶向药物治疗产生获得性耐药。同时研究发现,乳腺癌耐药细胞能够发生EMT,并获得干细胞表型。因此,针对乳腺癌细胞EMT的相关研究可以帮助人们在肿瘤抗耐药治疗中找到新的策略。本文旨在对EMT与乳腺癌发生获得性耐药之间关系的最新研究进展作一综述。

EMT （epithelial-mesenchymal transitions） refers to the progression in which tumor epithelial cells acquire mesenchymal features with high abilities of invasiveness and metastasis under various factors. EMT is characterized by downregulation of epithelial marker E-cadherin, upregulation of mesenchymal markers and regulation of expressions of related genes. EMT can promote the metastasis and invasiveness of breast cancer which acquiring a stem cell-like cell phenotype, and induce the acquired resistance of breast cancer to chemotherapy, endocrine therapy and target therapy. It is also shown that the breast cancer cells, which display drug resistance, exhibit stem cell-like characteristics and EMT. The studies focusing on EMT may be helpful to find new strategies to reverse drug resistance in breast cancer. This article reviews the research progress on the relationship between EMT and acquired drug-resistance in breast cancer.