Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Metastasis

Regressing to self-renewal

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 8, page 483 (2008)Cite this article

Using immortalized human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs) Mani and colleagues induced an EMT through ectopic expression of the development-associated transcription factors TWIST or SNAIL, or through exposure to transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1). The cells were fractionated by flow cytometry based on the expression of the cell surface markers CD44 and CD24. They found that cells that had undergone an EMT exhibited CD44high/CD24low expression, the fraction usually associated with mammary epithelial stem cells. Consistently, they found that HMECs that had undergone an EMT formed 30–40-fold more mammospheres in suspension culture, which indicates the acquisition of mammary epithelial stem cell properties. Next, they showed that these cells also acquired self-renewal properties and that they were multipotent — capable of producing both luminal and basal cell lineages. Matrigel culture also revealed that HMECs that had undergone an EMT were capable of forming complex secondary structures comparable to normal mammary ducts. Collectively, these data indicate that the EMT confers stem-like properties to non-transformed HMECs.

So, do stem cells exhibit EMT markers? The authors assessed the RNA expression profiles of monolayer cultures of fractionated HMECs (that had not undergone experimentally induced EMT) and found that CD44high/CD24low-expressing cells exhibited an EMT-associated gene expression profile. Moreover, they showed that mouse mammary stem cells (isolated using the homologous CD49fhigh/CD24med antigen phenotype) exhibited self-renewal properties and expressed markers associated with passage through the EMT.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Mani, S. A. et al. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition generates cells with properties of stem cells. Cell 133, 704–715 (2008)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

FURTHER READING

  1. Thiery, J. P. Epithelial–mesenchymal transitions in tumour progression. Nature Rev. Cancer 2, 442–454 (2002)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Gemma K. Alderton
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Alderton, G. Regressing to self-renewal. Nat Rev Cancer 8, 483 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc2423

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc2423

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing