Reprogramming of gastrointestinal cancer cells.

Cell reprogramming reverts cells to multipotent, preprogrammed states by re-establishing epigenetic markers. It can also induce considerable malignant phenotype modification. Because key events in cancer relapse and metastasis, including epithelial-mesenchymal transition phenotypes, are regulated primarily by reversible and transient epigenetic modifications rather than the accumulation of irreversible and stable genetic abnormalities, studying dynamic mechanisms regulating these biological processes is important.