Table 1.

The correlation between EMT transcription factors and VM

EMT transcription factors	Functions in VM formation	References
Twist	Twist represses E‐cadherin and upregulates N‐cadherin and vimentin. Downstream targets of Twist include platelet‐derived growth factor receptor‐a, Akt2, Snail1, and Snail2.	4, 41–54
ZEB1	ZEB1 downregulates E‐cadherin, decreases vascular endothelial cadherin and Flk‐1 expression, as well as induces EMT and stemness maintenance in VM‐positive cancer cells.	57, 60–63
Snail	Snail1 interacts with Ezh2 and Suz12, recruit polycomb complex 2 to repress CDH1 which can encode E‐cadherin.	64–69
Slug/Snal2	The role of slug in promoting VM formation is related to an increase in CSCs subpopulation generated from EMT.	70–74

EMT, epithelial‐mesenchymal transition; VM, vasculogenic mimicry; ZEB1, Zinc Finger E‐Box Binding Homeobox 1.