Cells can change their phenotype from epithelial to mesenchymal during development and in cancer progression, where this transition is often associated with metastasis and poor disease prognosis. Here we show this process involves the transit through a multitude of metastable hybrid phenotypes in a way that is similar to the driven dynamics of disordered materials. Our method shows that highly aggressive hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal cell phenotypes are located in metastable regions that can easily switch under external and internal perturbations. We propose a general mapping strategy that can be used for other pathways, providing a useful tool to visualize the ever increasing number of gene expression data obtained from single cells and tissues.

Source: www.pnas.org

• Papers