TWIST1 regulation of circRNA: a novel mechanism to promote epithelial-mesenchymal transition in hepatocellular carcinoma.

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process in which epithelial cells reversibly transdifferentiate and adopt a mesenchymal morphology (1-3). EMT is driven by suppression of epithelial associated genes such as E-cadherin and upregulation of mesenchymal associated genes such as fibroblast-specific protein 1 and Vimentin (1-3). These genetic changes lead epithelial cells to become more spindle-like in appearance due to loss of epithelial cell apical-basal polarity, cell-cell interactions, and cell-extracellular matrix interactions (1).