Microenvironmental Regulation of Metastasis

Overview

Journal Nat Rev Cancer

Specialty Oncology

Date 2009 Mar 13

PMID 19279573

Citations 1712

Authors

Johanna A Joyce

Jeffrey W Pollard

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Metastasis is a multistage process that requires cancer cells to escape from the primary tumour, survive in the circulation, seed at distant sites and grow. Each of these processes involves rate-limiting steps that are influenced by non-malignant cells of the tumour microenvironment. Many of these cells are derived from the bone marrow, particularly the myeloid lineage, and are recruited by cancer cells to enhance their survival, growth, invasion and dissemination. This Review describes experimental data demonstrating the role of the microenvironment in metastasis, identifies areas for future research and suggests possible new therapeutic avenues.

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