BRAF(V600E) and microenvironment in thyroid cancer: a functional link to drive cancer progression.

ABSTRACT: Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) rates continue to increase in the United States and Europe, and, although most patients do well, some recur and die of their disease. Patients with PTC harboring the BRAF(V600E) mutation seem to display a more aggressive clinical behavior, but little is known about the role of this mutation in crucial processes in the tumor microenvironment, such as tumor adhesion, migration, invasion, and metastasis. The extracellular matrix (ECM) microenvironment is not merely a structural scaffold for the cellular elements of the epithelial and stromal microenvironment, but it also elicits a profound influence on cell behavior affecting viability, proliferation, adhesion, and motility. The effects of BRAF(V600E) on cell surface receptors (i.e., integrins) and ECM noncellul

SUBMITTER: Nucera C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3913061 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature