Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Sinhgad Dental College and Hospital, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Dr. DY Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
J Cancer Res Ther. 2021 Jan-Mar;17(1):29-32. doi: 10.4103/jcrt.JCRT_489_17.
Invasion and metastasis are the fundamental properties of tumor biology and the root causes of cancer death. With the elucidation of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms, it has been postulated that cancer is a disease of imbalance. It is not merely a disease of tumor cells but also the body's mismanagement of those tumor cells. Tumor microenvironment plays an important role in tumor progression via the co-evolution of tumor cells and tumor stroma. Hence, exploring the complex mechanisms of tumor progression from perspectives of tumor stroma has become a new frontier. The major component of tumor stroma, the extracellular matrix (ECM), acts as a key regulator of cell and tissue function. Conventionally, the role of ECM was considered primarily as a physical scaffold that binds cells and tissues together. However, recent studies revealed the biochemical and biophysical signaling properties of the ECM as well that affect cell adhesion and migration, tissue morphogenesis and repair, and angiogenesis and cancer. The most abundant constituent of ECM, collagen, accounts for the major function of ECM, which can be associated with increased malignancy. The present review summarizes the dynamic interplay between collagen and tumor cells. It focuses on changes in physicochemical-biological properties of collagen. A new paradigm has been formulated that collagen can no more be considered playing a passive role over which tumor progression and metastasis takes place. Rather, its active role in the promotion of tumor progression and metastasis should be explored.
侵袭和转移是肿瘤生物学的基本特性，也是癌症死亡的根本原因。随着遗传和表观遗传机制的阐明，人们推测癌症是一种失衡的疾病。它不仅是肿瘤细胞的疾病，也是机体对这些肿瘤细胞的管理不善。肿瘤微环境通过肿瘤细胞与肿瘤基质的共同进化，在肿瘤进展中发挥重要作用。因此，从肿瘤基质的角度探索肿瘤进展的复杂机制已成为一个新的前沿领域。肿瘤基质的主要成分细胞外基质 (ECM) 作为细胞和组织功能的关键调节剂，在肿瘤进展中发挥重要作用。传统上，ECM 的作用主要被认为是一种将细胞和组织结合在一起的物理支架。然而，最近的研究揭示了 ECM 的生化和生物物理信号特性，这些特性影响细胞黏附和迁移、组织形态发生和修复、血管生成和癌症。ECM 中最丰富的成分胶原，赋予 ECM 的主要功能，这与恶性肿瘤的增加有关。本文综述了胶原与肿瘤细胞之间的动态相互作用。重点讨论了胶原理化生物学特性的变化。提出了一个新的范例，即胶原不能再被认为在肿瘤进展和转移过程中发挥被动作用。相反，应该探索其在促进肿瘤进展和转移中的积极作用。
