Fig. 2
From: Environmental chemicals, breast cancer progression and drug resistance
Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and appearance of cancer stem cells are two mechanisms which are suspected to lead to the occurrence of metastasis. EMT is associated to the phenotypical acquisition of cellular properties which leads to the migration and invasion of primary tumor cells while cancer stem cells conserve cellular properties of stem cells (important for maintenance and renewal of the breast cellular epithelium) which maintain cancer proliferation, metastatic dissemination and resistance to anticancer treatment. The figure also synthesized the processes which are targeted by environmental pollutants (orange squares). This figure was drawn using the website « Smart Servier Medical Art » (https://smart.servier.com/)