The correlation between cancer stem cells and epithelial-mesenchymal transition: molecular mechanisms and significance in cancer theragnosis

Front Immunol. 2024 Sep 30:15:1417201. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1417201. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

The connections between cancer stem cells (CSCs) and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is critical in cancer initiation, progression, metastasis, and therapy resistance, making it a focal point in cancer theragnosis. This review provides a panorama of associations and regulation pathways between CSCs and EMT, highlighting their significance in cancer. The molecular mechanisms underlined EMT are thoroughly explored, including the involvement of key transcription factors and signaling pathways. In addition, the roles of CSCs and EMT in tumor biology and therapy resistance, is further examined in this review. The clinical implications of CSCs-EMT interplay are explored, including identifying mesenchymal-state CSC subpopulations using advanced research methods and developing targeted therapies such as inhibitors and combination treatments. Overall, understanding the reciprocal relationship between EMT and CSCs holds excellent potential for informing the development of personalized therapies and ultimately improving patient outcomes.

Keywords: biomarkers; cancer stem cells; epithelial-mesenchymal transition; molecular mechanism; targeted therapy.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm
  • Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition*
  • Humans
  • Neoplasms* / metabolism
  • Neoplasms* / pathology
  • Neoplastic Stem Cells* / metabolism
  • Neoplastic Stem Cells* / pathology
  • Signal Transduction

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (2018YFA0902801), National Natural Science Foundation of China (32270815), Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Digestive Cancer Research (No. 2021B1212040006), the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program of CPSF under Grant Number (GZC20233233), the Guangdong basic and applied basic research foundation(2023A1515111044), the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (Grant No. RCBS20231211090733052),and the Sanming Project of Medicine in Shenzhen (No. SZSM201911003).