Engineering the pre-metastatic niche.

ABSTRACT: The pre-metastatic niche - the accumulation of aberrant immune cells and extracellular matrix proteins in target organs - primes the initially healthy organ microenvironment and renders it amenable for subsequent metastatic cell colonization. By attracting metastatic cancer cells, mimics of the pre-metastatic niche offer both diagnostic and therapeutic potential. However, deconstructing the complexity of the niche by identifying the interactions between cell populations and the mediatory roles of the immune system, soluble factors, extracellular matrix proteins, and stromal cells has proved challenging. Experimental models need to recapitulate niche-population biology in situ and mediate in vivo tumour-cell homing, colonization and proliferation. In this Review, we outline the biology of t

SUBMITTER: Aguado BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5628747 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature