The article presents Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition as a dynamic and reversible process that confers a high degree of “plasticity” to pre-cancerous and cancerous cells. EMT gives malignant cells the capacity to change from one state to another by permanently adapting to the environmental conditions encountered, at both the level of the primary tumour and that of the metastases on remote sites. The data presented place in parallel the different mechanisms through which the oncogenic activity of the inductive factors of EMT operates (called Twist, Zeb and Snai, etc.).
 
In particular, it was shown that these factors inhibit the failsafe systems controlled by proteins p53 and Rb that protect the cell from cancerous transformation by preventing its proliferation or programming its death. Also discussed in this article are the links between the acquisition of the properties of stem cells and the deactivation of pathway p53. Finally, the aberrant reactivation of this embryonic process, by favouring cellular plasticity, promotes both tumour initiation and metastatic propagation.
 
Oncogenic roles of EMT-inducing transcription factors. Puisieux A, Brabletz T, Caramel J. Nat. Cell Biol. May 2014, 16(6):488-94.