Mechanistically, Jagged2 was found to promote metastasis by increasing the expression of GATA-binding (Gata) factors, which suppressed expression of the microRNA-200 (miR-200) family of microRNAs that target the transcriptional repressors that drive EMT and thereby induced EMT.
To investigate this issue we have focused our studies on two Drosophila transcription factors, the classic EMT inducer Snail and the Drosophila orthologue of hGATAs4/6, Serpent, which drives an alternative mechanism of EMT; both Snail and GATA are specifically expressed in a number of human cancers, particularly at the invasive front and in metastasis.