The tumor ecosystem with heterogeneous cellularcompositions and the tumor microenvironment has increasingly become the focus of cancer research in recent years. Theextracellular matrix (ECM), the major component of t...The tumor ecosystem with heterogeneous cellularcompositions and the tumor microenvironment has increasingly become the focus of cancer research in recent years. Theextracellular matrix (ECM), the major component of the tumor microenvironment, and its interactions with the tumorcells and stromal cells have also enjoyed tremendouslyincreased attention. Like the other components of the tumormicroenvironment, the ECM in solid tumors differs significantly from that in normal organs and tissues. We reviewrecent studies of the complex roles the tumor ECM plays incancer progression, from tumor initiation, growth to angiogenesis and invasion. We highlight that the biomolecular,biophysical, and mechanochemical interactions between theECM and cells not only regulate the steps of cancer progression, but also affect the efficacy of systemic cancer treatment.We further discuss the strategies to target and modify thetumor ECM to improve cancer therapy.展开更多
基金This work was partially supported by the National Institute of Health grants from NCI(R01CA201340)NEI(1R01EY028450).
文摘The tumor ecosystem with heterogeneous cellularcompositions and the tumor microenvironment has increasingly become the focus of cancer research in recent years. Theextracellular matrix (ECM), the major component of the tumor microenvironment, and its interactions with the tumorcells and stromal cells have also enjoyed tremendouslyincreased attention. Like the other components of the tumormicroenvironment, the ECM in solid tumors differs significantly from that in normal organs and tissues. We reviewrecent studies of the complex roles the tumor ECM plays incancer progression, from tumor initiation, growth to angiogenesis and invasion. We highlight that the biomolecular,biophysical, and mechanochemical interactions between theECM and cells not only regulate the steps of cancer progression, but also affect the efficacy of systemic cancer treatment.We further discuss the strategies to target and modify thetumor ECM to improve cancer therapy.
