Translating epithelial mesenchymal transition markers into the clinic: Novel insights from proteomics

• Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) is essential for driving cancer plasticity.
• The EMT-associated program involves the activation of several cellular networks.
• Different mass spectrometry approaches were used to dissect the EMT complexity.
• Potential markers of diagnosis and therapy were identified by MS-technologies.

The growing understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) may represent a potential source of clinical markers. Despite EMT drivers have not yet emerged as candidate markers in the clinical setting, their association with established clinical markers may improve their specificity and sensitivity. Mass spectrometry-based platforms allow analyzing multiple samples for the expression of EMT candidate markers, and may help to diagnose diseases or monitor treatment efficiently. This review highlights proteomic approaches applied to elucidate the differences between epithelial and mesenchymal tumors and describes how these can be used for target discovery and validation.

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