McConkey et al (2009) measured these EMT markers in a panel of 20 human urothelial TCC cell lines and a set of 114 primary urothelial tumours, and observed a strong inverse correlation between the expression of E-cadherin and those of Zeb-1, Zeb-2 and vimentin. They found that the expression of the mesenchymal markers was confined to the muscle-invasive tumour. In addition, several previous studies have suggested that EMT was associated with bladder cancer progression and metastasis (Chaffer et al, 2006; McConkey et al, 2009; Kenney et al, 2011; Wiklund et al, 2011). Here, ZEB1 is linked to urinary bladder cancer.