{"entity":{"id":"unlocking-phenotypic-plasticity","kind":"term","name":"Hallmark (2022): unlocking phenotypic plasticity","aka":[],"tldr":"Cancer cells escape the normal rule that mature cells stay what they are: they dedifferentiate, transdifferentiate, or refuse to mature.","summary":"Unlocking phenotypic plasticity, a hallmark added in 2022, describes how cancer cells escape the rule that mature cells stay what they are: they dedifferentiate, transdifferentiate or refuse to mature. Examples are lineage plasticity under therapy (neuroendocrine transformation in prostate and lung cancer), dedifferentiation in melanoma and thyroid cancer and blocked differentiation in leukaemia, covered in the Histologic transformation entry. The responses are differentiation therapy (ATRA, menin inhibitors) and plasticity-blocking epigenetic drugs, which is why Menin, EZH2 and DLL3 are the linked targets. Readers reach it from the Hallmarks of Cancer overview, the 2022 hallmarks paper and the Lineage plasticity & neuroendocrine transformation pathway.","asOf":"2026-09-08","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hallmarks_of_Cancer","links":[{"label":"Hanahan, Hallmarks of Cancer: New Dimensions (Cancer Discovery 2022)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-21-1059"}],"tags":["hallmark"],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":["menin","ezh2","dll3"],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":["cancer-stem-cells-plasticity","epigenetic-reprogramming","emt"],"terms":["histologic-transformation"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Cancer biology"},"route":"/terms/unlocking-phenotypic-plasticity/","neighbours":{"target":[{"id":"dll3","kind":"target","name":"DLL3","route":"/targets/dll3/"},{"id":"ezh2","kind":"target","name":"EZH2","route":"/targets/ezh2/"},{"id":"menin","kind":"target","name":"Menin","route":"/targets/menin/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"cancer-stem-cells-plasticity","kind":"pathway","name":"Cancer stem cells & phenotypic plasticity","route":"/pathways/cancer-stem-cells-plasticity/"},{"id":"epigenetic-reprogramming","kind":"pathway","name":"Epigenetic reprogramming","route":"/pathways/epigenetic-reprogramming/"},{"id":"emt","kind":"pathway","name":"Epithelial-mesenchymal transition & drug efflux","route":"/pathways/emt/"},{"id":"lineage-plasticity-neuroendocrine","kind":"pathway","name":"Lineage plasticity & neuroendocrine transformation","route":"/pathways/lineage-plasticity-neuroendocrine/"}],"term":[{"id":"cancer-stem-cell-theory","kind":"term","name":"Cancer stem cell theory and phenotypic plasticity","route":"/terms/cancer-stem-cell-theory/"},{"id":"hallmarks-of-cancer","kind":"term","name":"Hallmarks of Cancer","route":"/terms/hallmarks-of-cancer/"},{"id":"hallmarks-synthesis","kind":"term","name":"Hallmarks of cancer as a synthesis of the theories","route":"/terms/hallmarks-synthesis/"},{"id":"histologic-transformation","kind":"term","name":"Histologic transformation","route":"/terms/histologic-transformation/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-hallmarks-new-dimensions-cancer-discov-2022","kind":"paper","name":"Hallmarks of Cancer 2022: adding phenotypic plasticity, epigenetic reprogramming, microbiomes and senescent cells","route":"/key-papers/paper-hallmarks-new-dimensions-cancer-discov-2022/"}]}}