The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process by which cells lose epithelial traits, such as cell-cell adhesion and apico-basal polarity, and acquire migratory and invasive traits. EMT is crucial to embryonic development and wound healing. Misregulated EMT has been implicated in processes associated with cancer aggressiveness, including metastasis. Recent experimental advances such as single-cell analysis and temporal phenotypic characterization have established that EMT is a multistable process wherein cells exhibit and switch among multiple phenotypic states. This is in contrast to the classical perception of EMT as leading to a binary choice. Mathematical modeling has been at the forefront of this transformation for the field, not only providing a conceptual framework to integrate and analyze experimental data, but also making testable predictions. In this article, we review the key features and characteristics of EMT dynamics, with a focus on the mathematical modeling approaches that have been instrumental to obtaining various useful insights.

中文翻译：

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上皮-间质转化过程中细胞决策的物理学。

上皮-间质转化（EMT）是细胞失去上皮性状（例如细胞间粘附和apico-基底极性）并获得迁移性和侵袭性的过程。EMT对于胚胎发育和伤口愈合至关重要。EMT调节异常与癌症侵袭性（包括转移）有关。最近的实验进展，例如单细胞分析和时间表型表征，已经确定EMT是一种多稳态过程，其中细胞表现出多种表型状态并在多种表型状态之间切换。这与EMT导致二元选择的传统认识相反。数学建模一直是该领域最重要的变革，不仅提供了一个概念框架来集成和分析实验数据，而且还可以进行可预测的预测。在本文中，我们将回顾EMT动力学的关键特征和特征，重点是对获得各种有用见解有用的数学建模方法。