·523·050523-04ββββββαβ·524·βββααα·525·βββββββββββββββββββαβκβκβκκβββ1β·526·EMTandtumorKe-HuaZHANGJian-GuoSONG(LaboratoryofMolecularCellBiology,InstituteofBiochemistryandCellBiology,ShanghaiInstitutesforBiologicalSciences,ChineseAcademyofSciences,Shanghai200031,China)AbstractEpithelialtomesenchymaltransition(EMT)isaphysiologicalphenomenonduringembryonicdevelopmentinmammalians.EMTisalsoabasicbiologicaleventimplicatedinmaintainingtissuehomeostasis.CurrentinvestigationsshowthatimproperEMTinmaturetissuecontributestotheprogressionofvariouscancers.EMTcanpromotethetumorinvasionandmetastasis,andprotecttumorcellfromapoptosis.ThisreviewsummarizesthecurrentprogressintheresearchfiledofEMT,whichaimstoexpoundthemechanismofEMTandtherelationshipbetweenEMTandtumor.KeywordsEMT;tumorinvasion;tumormetastasis;TGF-β