Fig. 2
From: Molecular alterations of cancer cell and tumour microenvironment in metastatic gastric cancer
Epithelial–mesenchymal transition and tumour–stromal interactions in gastric cancer. Main phenotypic changes of EMT in gastric cancer include loss of cell polarity, degradation of cell-anchoring junctions, cytoskeleton changes, acquisition of invasiveness and ultimately degradation of basement membrane. Interactions within between key components of the stromal environment. EMT epithelial–mesenchymal transition, ECM extracellular matrix, CAF cancer-associated fibroblast, MSC mesenchymal stem cell, MMP matrix metalloproteinase
