Identification of Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition-Associated Genes as Therapeutic Targets for Lung Cancer

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The aim of this study is to identify epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-associated genes as novel therapeutic targets for lung cancer. While several EMT-inducing genes have been discovered, which of these have the dominant role in EMT of lung cancer was not clear. We found that among four EMT-inducing genes (ZEB1, TWIST, SLUG, SIP1) ZEB1 plays the dominant role in EMT of lung cancer. Furthermore, we found that ZEB1 knockdown suppresses the growth of lung cancer cells. In addition, we also showed ZEB1 knockdown suppresses the growth of malignant pleural mesothelioma cells. These results suggest that ZEB1 may be a promising therapeutic target for lung cancer and malignant pleural mesothelioma.