The tumor microenvironment: the making of a paradigm.

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9) Stephen Paget was the conceptual father of the role played by the Tumor Microenvironment (TME) in tumor progression. The focus of this essay is the developmental phase of the post Paget TME research. Attempts will be made to highlight some of the pioneering work of scientists from the late sixties through the eighties of last century who laid the foundations for the contemporary scientific achievements of TME research but whose ground breaking studies are rarely cited. This review should serve as a small tribute to their great work.