Epithelial-mesenchymal transition transcription factors and miRNAs: “Plastic surgeons” of breast cancer

Table 1 Involvement of epithelial-mesenchymal transition-transcription factors in breast carcinogenesis

EMT-TF	Transcription factor type	Deregulated in breast cancer	Association with biological and clinico-pathological features in breast cancer
SNAI1 (Snail)	Zinc finger	High levels[75]	Lymph node metastasis, effusion, distant metastasis, recurrence
SNAI2 (Slug)	Zinc finger	High levels[76]	Effusion, distant metastasis, recurrence, stemness capacities
TWIST1	Basic Helix-loop-Helix	Up-regulated[77]	Primary transformation, escape from failsafe programs, invasion, bone metastasis, angiogenesis, poor prognosis
ZEB1	Zinc finger E-box-binding homeobox 1	High levels[76,77]	Invasion, distant metastasis
ZEB2	Zinc finger E-box-binding homeobox 2	High levels[76,77]	Invasion, distant metastasis, stemness capacities
FoxC2	Forkhead-related protein FKHL14, FKH-14, mesenchyme fork head protein 1	High levels[78]	Stemness capacities, distant metastasis
Oct3/4	Octamer-binding transcription factor 4, POU domain, class 5, transcription factor 1S homeodomain transcription factor of the POU family	Up-regulated[79]	Stemness capacities, invasion, migration
Sox2	Sex determining region Y-box 2 highly conserved DNA binding domains High-mobility group box domains	Up-regulated[80]	Tamoxifen-resistance, lymph node metastasis, stemness capacities
Prrx1	Paired related homeobox 1	High levels[15]	Metastasis, poor prognosis
TCF4	Basic Helix-loop-Helix immunoglobulin transcription factor 2	Up-regulated[81,82]	Metastasis, poorer prognosis in patients with high levels of osteopontin and better prognosis with low levels of osteopontin

EMT-TF: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition-transcription factors.