TABLE 3.

The role of EMT-related pathways in colorectal cancer.

Pathways	Altered mechanism	Role in CRC	Ref.
TGF-β/SMAD	Aberrant activation by LINC00941 upregulation and/or HAPLN1 reduction	Principal EMT activator. Crosstalk with other pathways (e.g., Wnt/β-catenin)	Wang et al. (2021); Wu et al. (2021b)
NF-κB	Increased production of inflammatory and anti-apoptotic mediators	Links inflammation to cancer development	Jurjus et al. (2016)
Wnt/β-catenin	APC inactivation and specific transcriptional signature induction	Onset and progression	Bian et al. (2020)
Notch	Increased activation by altered MMP9 activity	Modulation of tumor microenvironment	Walter et al. (2020)
ERK pathway	Activation of EMT-inducing transcription factors; regulation cell adhesion molecules and MMPs	Progression and invasion	Wang et al. (2017); Xu et al. (2018); Ni et al. (2023)
Hedgehog	Positively regulated by increased GLI1 and POU4F2 expression	EMT genes expression and dedifferentiation	Centelles (2012); Guo et al. (2021)
HIF	Increased Ascl2 expression (blocked by miR-200b); inhibition by miR-206; induction of angiogenic factors like VEGF	Angiogenesis and progression	Shang et al. (2017); Xu et al. (2018)
PI3K/Akt/mTOR	Regulation of EMT-related transcription factors; protein translation and synthesis; crosstalk with autophagy	Cell growth, angiogenesis and metastasis	Liao et al. (2022); Wu et al. (2023)