Epithelial to mesenchymal transition history: From embryonic development to cancers

Abstract

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process that allows epithelial cells to pro-gressively acquire a reversible mesenchymal phenotype. Here, we recount the main events in the history of EMT. EMT was first studied during embryonic development. Nowadays, it is an im-portant field in cancer research, studied all around the world by more and more scientists, because it was shown that EMT is involved in cancer aggressiveness in many different ways. The main features of EMT’s involvement in embryonic development, fibrosis and cancers are briefly reviewed here.