Abstract: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is regarded as a key step in cancer invasion and metastasis. Transcriptional factors (TFs) are the primary clues in initiating EMT, such as SNAIL, TWIST and ZEB. TFs modulate transcription of EMT-associated genes. Meanwhile, they also experienced epigenetic reprogramming and transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation. Elucidation the molecular mechanisms of TF-driven EMT in cancer invasion and metastasis would provide new insights in target therapy and drug design.

Key words: Transcriptional factor, Epithelial-mesenchymal transition, Cancer, Invasion, Metastasis