Clinical significance of epithelial-mesenchymal transition

Clinical and Translational Medicine

Table 1 Frequently used protein markers for epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)

Marker	Original function	Tissue	Reference
Downregulated in EMT
α-catenin	Cell adhesion molecule	Lung	[56]
β-catenin (membrane)¹	Cell adhesion molecule	Colon, Pancreas (NET)	[57, 58]
Claudin	Cell adhesion molecule	Esophagus, Breast	[59, 60]
Cytokeratins	Cytoskeletal filament	Lung, Esophagus	[16, 61, 62]
E-cadherin	Cell adhesion molecule	Colon, Breast, Lung, Ovary, Esophagus, Prostate, Cervix	[16, 61, 63–70]
Occludin	Cell adhesion molecule	Ovary	[18, 71]
Upregulated in EMT
Brachyury	Transcription factor	Pancreas, Breast, Lung	[72]
β-catenin (cytoplasm/ nucleus)¹	Transcription factor	Breast, Cervix	[73]
EGFR	Tyrosine kinase receptor	Cervix	[70]
N-cadherin	Cell adhesion molecule	Ovary, Prostate	[68, 74]
Notch-1	Transcription factor	Prostate	[75]
p16^INK4a	Cell cycle regulator	Colon, Urothelium	[23, 76]
Slug	Transcription factor	Breast, Ovary	[11, 77]
Snail	Transcription factor	Breast, Cervix, Ovary	[11, 70, 77]
TTF-1	Transcription factor	Lung	[61]
Twist	Transcription factor	Breast, Stomach	[78, 79]
Vimentin	Cytoskeletal filament	Breast, Esophagus, Cervix	[16, 55, 62, 70]
ZEB1	Transcription factor	Colon, Breast, Ovary	[51, 68, 80, 81]

¹Membraneous depletion, but cytoplasmic accumulation/nuclear translocation.
NET, neuroendocrine tumor; EGFR, epidermal growth factor receptor; TTF-1, thyroid transcription factor-1; ZEB1, Zinc finger E-box-binding homeobox 1.