Tumour progression and spread are influenced by a variety of factors. These include communication between cells, the presence of differing types of cellular lineage in a cancer (tumour heterogeneity) and variations in cellular states (a phenomenon called plasticity, which describes the adaptability of these cells). Plasticity is often coupled to a process called the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), which is associated with one type of cell (an epithelial cell) losing its usual characteristics and switching to resemble a different type of cell (a mesenchymal cell). All of the above contribute to a poor prognosis1,2. Writing in Nature, Li et al.3 present evidence as to how communication between epithelial and mesenchymal cancer cells promotes tumour heterogeneity and cellular plasticity to drive malignant pancreatic cancer.
Competing Interests
The author declares no competing interests.
