[Signal transduction on transdifferentiation of renal tubular epithelial cell].

It is an important cell biological phenomenon that epithelial cells transit into mesenchymal cells under special physiological and pathological condition. In recent years, it has been known that epithelial-mesenchymal-transition may be mediated by several intracellular signaling pathways, such as MAPK, Rho, Src, PI3 kinase and Smads. Renal tubular epithelial cells have been observed to transit to myo-fibroblasts in renal diseases. However, the intracellular signaling pathways are rarely known. The progress on this field is reviewed.