Patent ID: 7951549

Claim:
A method of identifying an agent that inhibits tumor cells from undergoing an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), comprising contacting a sample of cells of the epithelial tumor cell line H358 with a test agent to be screened, contacting the sample with a single- or dual-protein ligand preparation that induces an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in H358 cells, determining whether the test agent inhibits the tumor cells in the sample from undergoing an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, by comparing the level of a biomarker whose level is indicative of the EMT status of the sample tumor cells to the level of the same biomarker in an identical sample of H358 cells not contacted with the test agent, and thus determining whether the test agent is an agent that inhibits tumor cells from undergoing an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.