Vascular endothelial platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1 (PECAM-1) regulates advanced metastatic progression.

ABSTRACT: Most patients who die from cancer succumb to treatment-refractory advanced metastatic progression. Although the early stages of tumor metastasis result in the formation of clinically silent micrometastatic foci, its later stages primarily reflect the progressive, organ-destructive growth of already advanced metastases. Early-stage metastasis is regulated by multiple factors within tumor cells as well as by the tumor microenvironment (TME). In contrast, the molecular determinants that control advanced metastatic progression remain essentially uncharacterized, precluding the development of therapies targeted against it. Here we show that the TME, functioning in part through platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1 (PECAM-1), drives advanced metastatic progression and is essential for pr

SUBMITTER: DeLisser H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2973011 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature