Author(s)

Mingyang Li

Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, China.

The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process where epithelial cells with polarity and tight junction change into mesenchymal cells without polarity and intercellular adhesion to obtain an ability of invasion and metastasis. Interest in the EMT theory has grown exponentially in the last several years and it has become one of the hottest subjects in cancer research. However, there is no convincing evidence of EMT in human tumor and numerous paradoxes do exist about EMT theory from molecular researches to clinical observations. Thus, the so-called EMT in carcinoma metastasis is probably a pseudo concept at present.

Carcinoma Metastasis, Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT), Paradoxes

Li, M. (2014) The Paradoxes of EMT Theory in Carcinoma Metastasis. Open Access Library Journal, 1, 1-4. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1100937.