Migratory neighbors and distant invaders: tumor-associated niche cells

Jared Wels; Rosandra N. Kaplan; Shahin Rafii; David Lyden

doi:10.1101/gad.1636908

Migratory neighbors and distant invaders: tumor-associated niche cells

¹ Department of Pediatrics and Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York 10021, USA;
² Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10021, USA;
³ Department of Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York 10021, USA

↵4 These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

The cancer environment is comprised of tumor cells as well as a wide network of stromal and vascular cells participating in the cellular and molecular events necessary for invasion and metastasis. Tumor secretory factors can activate the migration of host cells, both near to and far from the primary tumor site, as well as promote the exodus of cells to distant tissues. Thus, the migration of stromal cells and tumor cells among specialized microenvironments takes place throughout tumor and metastatic progression, providing evidence for the systemic nature of a malignancy. Investigations of the tumor–stromal and stromal–stromal cross-talk involved in cellular migration in cancer may lead to the design of novel therapeutic strategies.

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Footnotes

↵5 Corresponding authors.

↵5 E-MAIL dcl2001{at}med.cornell.edu; FAX (212) 746-8423.
↵6 E-MAIL srafii{at}med.cornell.edu; FAX (212) 746-8423.
Article is online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.1636908.