Oxygen regulates epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition: insights into molecular mechanisms and relevance to disease

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a developmentally vital, molecularly complex cellular process by which epithelial cells lose apico–basal polarity and cell–cell contact, become motile, and acquire mesenchymal characteristics. Under pathophysiological conditions EMT has a central role in cancer progression and metastasis, and has been associated with fibrotic disorders. Microenvironmental changes such as alterations in oxygen levels and activation of hypoxic signaling through hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) are emerging as important triggers and modulators of EMT. Recent insights into potential molecular mechanisms underlying oxygen-dependent regulation of this process and their relevance to disease are discussed.