Integrating the Tumor Microenvironment into Cancer Therapy.

Autores de INCLIVA

• Sabina Sanegre Sans

  Autor

• Federico Lucantoni

  Autor

• Rebeca Burgos Panadero

  Autor

• 

  Rosa Noguera Salva

  Autor

Participantes ajenos a INCLIVA

• de La Cruz-Merino, Luis
• Alvaro Naranjo, Tomas

Grupos y Plataformas de I+D+i

• Grupo de Investigación Translacional de Tumores Sólidos Pediátricos

  

  Leading Researcher

  Samuel Navarro Fos

Abstract

Tumor progression is mediated by reciprocal interaction between tumor cells and their surrounding tumor microenvironment (TME), which among other factors encompasses the extracellular milieu, immune cells, fibroblasts, and the vascular system. However, the complexity of cancer goes beyond the local interaction of tumor cells with their microenvironment. We are on the path to understanding cancer from a systemic viewpoint where the host macroenvironment also plays a crucial role in determining tumor progression. Indeed, growing evidence is emerging on the impact of the gut microbiota, metabolism, biomechanics, and the neuroimmunological axis on cancer. Thus, external factors capable of influencing the entire body system, such as emotional stress, surgery, or psychosocial factors, must be taken into consideration for enhanced management and treatment of cancer patients. In this article, we review prognostic and predictive biomarkers, as well as their potential evaluation and quantitative analysis. Our overarching aim is to open up new fields of study and intervention possibilities, within the framework of an integral vision of cancer as a functional tissue with the capacity to respond to different non-cytotoxic factors, hormonal, immunological, and mechanical forces, and others inducing stroma and tumor reprogramming.

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Keywords

• biomarker discovery, immune therapy, mechanotransduction, metabolism, metformin, microbiota, mitochondria, prognostic tools, stromal reprogramming, vitamin D3