Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) in prostate growth and tumor progression.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and its reversal, mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET), are essential morphological processes during development and in the regulation of stem cell pluripotency, yet these processes are also activated in pathological contexts, such as in fibrosis and cancer progression. Multi-component signaling pathways cooperate in initiation of EMT and MET programs, via transcriptional, post-transcriptional, translational, and post-translational regulation. EMT is required for tissue regeneration and normal embryonic development as it enables epithelial cells to acquire the mesenchymal phenotype, conferring them migratory and dynamic properties towards forming three-dimensional structures during gastrulation and organ formation.