Research progress of application of E-cadherin, N-cadherin and vimentin in tumor metastasis

The invasion and metastasis of tumor as the primary cause of death in cancer increases not only the patients' suffering, but also the difficulty of clinical treatment. It is an important guiding to find the molecular biological tumor markers and gene targets of antirecurrence and antimetastasis for clinical treatment. The invasion and metastasis of tumor is a complex process including the biological characteristics of the cancer, interaction among host cells, extracellular matrix and cancer cells, etc. Recently, epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) is becoming a hot spot in oncology research by virtue of its effect on genesis and development of tumor. Currently, the known markers of EMT include epithelial marker proteins mainly containing E-cadherin and interstitial marker proteins mainly containing N-cadherin and vimentin. It is necessary to make a summary among the studies on three proteins. Key words: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition; Neoplasms; E-cadherin; N-cadherin; Vimentin