ZEB1

ZEB1 is a transcription factor that drives the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), the developmental program that converts a polarized, immotile epithelial cell into a motile mesenchymal one and that tumors use to invade and metastasize.

Function

ZEB1 represses the epithelial program by binding E-box sequences in the promoters of the cadherin genes - E-cadherin (CDH1) above all - and recruiting corepressors that silence them. Loss of E-cadherin dissolves adherens junctions, the cell detaches from its neighbors, and the mesenchymal program (vimentin, N-cadherin, matrix proteases) takes over. ZEB1 and the miR-200 microRNA family repress each other - ZEB1 represses miR-200, miR-200 represses ZEB1 -