Modulation of epithelial-to-mesenchymal cancerous transition by natural products

Metastasis is mainly responsible for poor prognosis of cancer, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a significant process often activated during cancer invasion and metastasis. Therefore EMT could be an effective target of chemotherapy to inhibit cancer metastasis and improve prognosis. Considering that many chemotherapeutics are plant-based, we reviewed recent reports about natural products extracted from plants and cancer EMT prevention.

Graphic abstractEpithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is significant for cancer metastasis and multiple botanic natural products inhibit EMT through variant pathways, like NF-κB, HIF-1α, JAK/STAT3, WNT/β-catenin, MAPK/ERK1/2, PI3K/Akt, FAK/Src and TGF-β1.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (99 K)Download as PowerPoint slide