The Roles of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Pathways in TGF-β-Induced Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

Figure 2

The involvement of JNK and p38 MAPK pathways in the TGF-β-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Upon TGF-β ligation, the receptor phosphorylates Smad2/3 and interacts with TRAF6, which recruits TAK1 and TAB1 to activate JNK and p38 MAPK. The activated JNK and p38 MAPK can act in a Smad-dependent or -independent manner to regulate EMT by controlling the downstream transcriptional factors. This figure depicts the cross-talk between JNK, p38 MAPK, and TGF-β signaling in different cellular systems and illustrates how these networks may function in a stimuli-dependent manner to determine the EMT response.