A molecular portrait of epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity in prostate cancer associated with clinical outcome.

The propensity of cancer cells to transition between epithelial and mesenchymal phenotypic states is considered to be critical in metastatic processes, cancer progression, and treatment resistance. To investigate a transient epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in prostate adenocarcinoma, LNCaP cells with inducible and reversible expression of SNAI1 or SNAI2 were generated. Cells were treated with doxycycline to induce a SNAI1- or SNAI2-mediated EMT for 5 days and then subsequently removed for 3, 5, and 20 days to allow for MET. LNCaP-iGFP cells were also generated for control purposes and were subjected to the same treatment regime. The dataset was derived from three independent repeats of all treatment groups except the GFP.MET.M20 group that only had two independent repeats.