The role of the microenvironment-dormant prostate disseminated tumor cells in the bone marrow

Publication date: March 2014 Source:Drug Discovery Today: Technologies, Volume 11 Author(s): Hung-Ming Lam , Robert L. Vessella , Colm Morrissey Disseminated tumor cells (DTC) leave the primary tumor and reside in distant sites (e.g. bone) early in prostate cancer. Patients may harbor dormant DTC which develop into clinically overt metastasis years after radical prostatectomy. We will describe recent evidence suggesting high p38/ERK ratio, bone morphogenetic proteins, and tumor growth factor-beta 2 promote dormancy in solid tumors. Furthermore, we will discuss the possible regulation of dormancy by hematopoietic stem cell and vascular niches, and describe novel models recapitulating bone marrow metastatic latency and outgrowth, 3D microvascular networks, and 3D biomatrix supportive niches in the studies of tumor cell dormancy.
Source: Drug Discovery Today: Technologies - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research