Expression of Snail and Twist compared with clinical and pathological parameters in patients with gastric cancer.

Abstract

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process of change in the cellular phenotype from epithelial to mesenchymal morphology. The changes at the cellular level can explain the great heterogeneity and plasticity in the different histological subtypes of gastric carcinomas, which causes difficulties in therapy. In it, epithelial cells reduce intercellular adhesion, which is crucial in the process of invasion and metastasis of gastric carcinomas. Inhibition of cell adhesion molecules such as E-cadherin is known to be influenced by a number of transcription factors, such as Snail and Twist.