Chemotherapy-induced Metastasis: Molecular Mechanisms and Clinical Therapies

Overview

Journal Acta Pharmacol Sin

Specialty Pharmacology

Date 2023 May 11

PMID 37169853

Authors

Jin-Xuan Su

Si-Jia Li

Xiao-Feng Zhou

Zhi-Jing Zhang

Yu Yan

Song-Lin Liu

Qi Qi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Chemotherapy, the most widely accepted treatment for malignant tumors, is dependent on cell death induced by various drugs including antimetabolites, alkylating agents, mitotic spindle inhibitors, antitumor antibiotics, and hormonal anticancer drugs. In addition to causing side effects due to non-selective cytotoxicity, chemotherapeutic drugs can initiate and promote metastasis, which greatly reduces their clinical efficacy. The knowledge of how they induce metastasis is essential for developing strategies that improve the outcomes of chemotherapy. Herein, we summarize the recent findings on chemotherapy-induced metastasis and discuss the underlying mechanisms including tumor-initiating cell expansion, the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, extracellular vesicle involvement, and tumor microenvironment alterations. In addition, the use of combination treatments to overcome chemotherapy-induced metastasis is also elaborated.

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