Divisions of Endocrinology and Oncology, The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Arthur G. James Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Thyroid. 2011 May;21(5):487-92. doi: 10.1089/thy.2011.2121. Epub 2011 Apr 10.
Metastatic dormancy, or the ability of cancer cells to survive but not progress in metastatic environments, is now recognized to be a common occurrence in cancer.
From a clinical perspective, this phenomenon is common in metastatic well-differentiated thyroid cancer, whereby patients often present with distant metastases that remain stable for years after removal of the primary tumor and subsequent treatment. Experimental data suggest that metastases can develop throughout the life of a cancer and that progression in the distant environment depends on the biology of the cancer cells that metastasize as well as that of the various microenvironments they encounter. A firm understanding of how thyroid cancer cell progression is regulated in different metastatic environments is necessary to devise effective therapies targeting progressive metastatic thyroid cancer.
In this review, current models of metastatic progression and factors that regulate late-stage metastatic progression that are particularly relevant for thyroid cancer are discussed.
转移休眠，即癌细胞在转移环境中能够存活但不会进展的能力，现在被认为是癌症的常见现象。
从临床角度来看，这种现象在分化良好的甲状腺癌转移中很常见，患者通常表现为远处转移，在原发肿瘤和后续治疗切除后，这些转移灶多年来仍保持稳定。实验数据表明，转移可以在癌症的整个生命周期中发生，并且在远处环境中的进展取决于转移的癌细胞的生物学特性以及它们所遇到的各种微环境。深入了解甲状腺癌细胞在不同转移环境中的进展是如何受到调控的，对于设计针对进展性转移性甲状腺癌的有效治疗方法至关重要。
在这篇综述中，讨论了当前的转移进展模型以及调控晚期转移进展的因素，这些因素对甲状腺癌尤其相关。
