Martins Diana, Schmitt Fernando
I3S, Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
IPATIMUP, Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Histol Histopathol. 2019 Jan;34(1):13-24. doi: 10.14670/HH-18-021. Epub 2018 Jul 6.
It is now widely accepted that the tumor microenvironment is a pathologically active niche that shapes tumor nature, evolution and response to treatment. Close interactions between cancer cells and stroma are known to regulate several cancer pathways and thus the determination of different tumor-stromal interactions could be an important step in invasiveness. The breast cancer microenvironment is a complex combination of several different cell types and molecules and a key contributor to tumor development and progression. The microenvironment includes fibroblasts, macrophages, immune cells, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, endothelial cells and angiogenic vascular cells, whereas stromal cells surround and interact with tumor cells. Recent data demonstrate significant gene expression alterations in microenvironment cells during disease progression and several stromal cell types are implicated in promoting the "hallmarks of cancer", which can be explored as targets for cancer therapy. Besides identifying new therapeutic targets, the microenvironment has also been implicated in chemotherapy resistance, suggesting that the crosstalk between cancer and its microenvironment is a promising strategy to target breast cancer.
现在人们普遍认为，肿瘤微环境是一个病理活跃的生态位，它塑造了肿瘤的性质、演变和对治疗的反应。已知癌细胞与基质之间的密切相互作用会调节多种癌症途径，因此确定不同的肿瘤-基质相互作用可能是侵袭性研究中的重要一步。乳腺癌微环境是几种不同细胞类型和分子的复杂组合，是肿瘤发展和进展的关键因素。微环境包括成纤维细胞、巨噬细胞、免疫细胞、肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞、内皮细胞和血管生成血管细胞，而基质细胞围绕肿瘤细胞并与之相互作用。最近的数据表明，在疾病进展过程中，微环境细胞存在显著的基因表达改变，并且几种基质细胞类型与促进“癌症特征”有关，这些可作为癌症治疗的靶点进行探索。除了确定新的治疗靶点外，微环境还与化疗耐药性有关，这表明癌症与其微环境之间的相互作用是靶向治疗乳腺癌的一个有前景的策略。
