TITLE:
The Bone Microenvironmental Effect in the Dormancy of Cancer
AUTHORS:
Weiwei Shen, Yujie Niu, Helong Zhang
KEYWORDS:
Bone Marrow, Tumor, Metastasis, Dormancy
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Cancer Therapy,
Vol.5 No.4,
March
31,
2014
ABSTRACT: Tumors have already
threatened human life and health for centuries, especially the recurrent of
bone metastases is difficult to cure. Relapse can occur years to decades after
resection of primary tumor. This phenomenon is common in many clinical cases
and animal experimental studies. The effect of traditional radiotherapy and
chemotherapy on relapse is very limited, and the patients’ prognosis is poor.
Because the delayed occurrence of metastases, researchers put forward a new
concept “dormancy”, including a
single dormant tumor cell (growth-arrest) and tumor mass dormancy (equivalence
of the proliferation rate and apoptosis rate). It is probable that dormant
tumor cells are the resource of relapse and the main reason of chemotherapy
resistance. The mechanisms mediated tumor cell dormancy are complex and poorly
understood, and bone marrow microenvironment plays an important role in this
process. This review focuses on the bone marrow microenvironmental effect in
inducing cancer cells to dormancy uncovered by the latest researches.