Microenvironmental regulation of tumor progression and metastasis

DF Quail, JA Joyce - Nature medicine, 2013 - nature.com
DF Quail, JA Joyce
Nature medicine, 2013nature.com
Cancers develop in complex tissue environments, which they depend on for sustained
growth, invasion and metastasis. Unlike tumor cells, stromal cell types within the tumor
microenvironment (TME) are genetically stable and thus represent an attractive therapeutic
target with reduced risk of resistance and tumor recurrence. However, specifically disrupting
the pro-tumorigenic TME is a challenging undertaking, as the TME has diverse capacities to
induce both beneficial and adverse consequences for tumorigenesis. Furthermore, many …
Abstract
Cancers develop in complex tissue environments, which they depend on for sustained growth, invasion and metastasis. Unlike tumor cells, stromal cell types within the tumor microenvironment (TME) are genetically stable and thus represent an attractive therapeutic target with reduced risk of resistance and tumor recurrence. However, specifically disrupting the pro-tumorigenic TME is a challenging undertaking, as the TME has diverse capacities to induce both beneficial and adverse consequences for tumorigenesis. Furthermore, many studies have shown that the microenvironment is capable of normalizing tumor cells, suggesting that re-education of stromal cells, rather than targeted ablation per se, may be an effective strategy for treating cancer. Here we discuss the paradoxical roles of the TME during specific stages of cancer progression and metastasis, as well as recent therapeutic attempts to re-educate stromal cells within the TME to have anti-tumorigenic effects.
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