:
Although there are currently several factors that allow measuring the risk of
having breast cancer or predicting its progression, the underlying causes of this malignancy
have remained unknown. Several molecular studies have described some mechanisms
involved in the progress of breast cancer. These have helped in identifying new targets with
therapeutic potential. However, despite the therapeutic strategies implemented from the
advances achieved in breast cancer research, a large percentage of patients with breast
cancer die due to the spread of malignant cells to other tissues or organs, such as bones
and lungs. Therefore, determining the processes that promote the migration of malignant
cells remains one of the greatest challenges for oncological research. Several research
groups have reported evidence on how the dedifferentiation of tumor cells leads to the
acquisition of stemness characteristics, such as invasion, metastasis, the capability to
evade the immunological response, and resistance to several cytotoxic drugs. These
phenotypic changes have been associated with a complex reprogramming of gene
expression in tumor cells during the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT). Considering
the determining role that the transcriptional regulation plays in the expression of the specific
characteristics and attributes of breast cancer during ETM, in the present work, we reviewed
and analyzed several transcriptional mechanisms that support the mesenchymal phenotype.
In the same way, we established the importance of transcription factors with a therapeutic
perspective in the progress of breast cancer.