Jia, DongyaJolly, Mohit KumarBoareto, MarceloParsana, PrincyMooney, Steven M.Pienta, Kenneth J.Levine, HerbertBen-Jacob, Eshel2016-06-222016-06-222015Jia, Dongya, Jolly, Mohit Kumar, Boareto, Marcelo, et al.. "OVOL guides the epithelial-hybrid-mesenchymal transition." <i>Oncotarget,</i> 6, no. 17 (2015) Impact Journals, LLC: 15436-15448. http://dx.doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.3623.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/90519Metastasis involves multiple cycles of Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) and its reverse-MET. Cells can also undergo partial transitions to attain a hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal (E/M) phenotype that has maximum cellular plasticity and allows migration of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) as a cluster. Hence, deciphering the molecular players helping to maintain the hybrid E/M phenotype may inform anti-metastasis strategies. Here, we devised a mechanism-based mathematical model to couple the transcription factor OVOL with the core EMT regulatory network miR-200/ZEB that acts as a three-way switch between the E, E/M and M phenotypes. We show that OVOL can modulate cellular plasticity in multiple ways - restricting EMT, driving MET, expanding the existence of the hybrid E/M phenotype and turning both EMT and MET into two-step processes. Our theoretical framework explains the differences between the observed effects of OVOL in breast and prostate cancer, and provides a platform for investigating additional signals during metastasis.asis.engAll content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.Journal articleEMTmetastasisOVOLpartial EMTcancer systems biologyhttp://dx.doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.3623