Prostate cancer is a main urological disease associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Radical prostatectomy and radiotherapy are potentially curative for localized prostate cancer, while androgen deprivation therapy is the initial systemic therapy for metastatic prostate disease. However, despite temporary response, most patients relapse and evolve into castration resistant cancer.Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a complex gradual process that occurs during embryonic development and/or tumor progression. During this process, cells lose their epithelial characteristics and acquire mesenchymal features. Increasing evidences indicate that EMT promotes prostate cancer metastatic progression and it is closely correlated with increased stemness and drug resistance.In this review, we discuss the main molecular events that directly or indirectly govern the EMT program in prostate cancer, in order to better define the role and the mechanisms underlying this process in prostate cancer progression and therapeutic resistance.
Oncotarget. 2017 Feb 25 [Epub ahead of print]
Micaela Montanari, Sabrina Rossetti, Carla Cavaliere, Carmine D'Aniello, Maria Gabriella Malzone, Daniela Vanacore, Rossella Di Franco, Elvira La Mantia, Gelsomina Iovane, Raffaele Piscitelli, Raffaele Muscariello, Massimiliano Berretta, Sisto Perdonà, Paolo Muto, Gerardo Botti, Attilio Antonio Montano Bianchi, Bianca Maria Veneziani, Gaetano Facchini
Progetto ONCONET2.0 - Linea progettuale 14 per l'implementazione della prevenzione e diagnosi precoce del tumore alla prostata e testicolo, Regione Campania, Italy., Department of Uro-Gynaecological Oncology, Division of Urology, Istituto Nazionale Tumori 'Fondazione G. Pascale' - IRCCS, Naples, Italy., Department of Medical Oncology, CRO Aviano, National Cancer Institute, Aviano, Italy., Radiation Oncology, Istituto Nazionale per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori 'Fondazione Giovanni Pascale' - IRCCS, Naples, Italy., Pathology Unit, Istituto Nazionale Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale"-IRCCS, Naples, Italy., Directorate-General for Management, Istituto Nazionale Tumori 'Fondazione G. Pascale' - IRCCS, Naples, Italy., Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnologies, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy.