Stroma as an Active Player in the Development of the Tumor Microenvironment

0436418 - MBÚ 2015 RIV NL eng J - Journal Article
Vannucci, Luca
Stroma as an Active Player in the Development of the Tumor Microenvironment.
Cancer Microenvironment. Roč. 6, č. 3 (2014). ISSN 1875-2292
R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA500200917
Institutional support: RVO:61388971
Keywords : tumor stroma * tumor microenvironment * fibrosis
OECD category: Immunology

The stroma is a considerable part of the tumor microenvironment. Because of its complexity, it can influence both cancer and immune cells in their behavior and cross-talk. Aside from soluble products released by non-cancer and cancer cells, extracellular matrix components have been increasingly recognized as more thanjust minor players in the constitution, development and regulation of the tumor microenvironment. The variations in the connective scaffold architecture, inducedby transforming growth factor beta, lysyl oxidase and metalloproteinase activity,create different conditions of ECM density and stiffness. They exert broad effects on immune cells (e.g. physical barriers, modulation by release of stored TGF-β1), mesenchymal cells (transition to myofibroblasts), epithelial cells (epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition), cancer cells (progression to metastatic phenotype) and stem cells (activation of differentiation addressed by the microenvironment characteristics). Physiological mechanisms of the wound healing process, as well as mechanisms of fibrosis in some chronic pathologies, closelyrecall aspects of cancer deregulated biology.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0240173