Impact of the Tumor Microenvironment on Tumor Heterogeneity and Consequences for Cancer Cell Plasticity and Stemness.

ABSTRACT: Tumor heterogeneity is considered the major cause of treatment failure in current cancer therapies. This feature of solid tumors is not only the result of clonal outgrowth of cells with genetic mutations, but also of epigenetic alterations induced by physical and chemical signals from the tumor microenvironment (TME). Besides fibroblasts, endothelial and immune cells, mesenchymal stroma/stem-like cells (MSCs) and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) intimately crosstalk with cancer cells and can exhibit both anti- and pro-tumorigenic effects. MSCs can alter cancer cellular phenotypes to increase cancer cell plasticity, eventually resulting in the generation of cancer stem cells (CSCs). The shift between different phenotypic states (phenotype switching) of CSCs is controlled via both genetic

SUBMITTER: Hass R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7764513 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature