Roles of tumor microenvironment networks during tumor progression (IMAGE)

Tokyo Medical and Dental University

Roles of tumor microenvironment networks during tumor progression

Caption

The tumor microenvironment (TME) consists of various components, including cancer cells, tumor vessels, cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), and inflammatory cells. These components interact with each other via various cytokines including TGF-β and TNF-α, which often induce tumor progression. In the present study, we showed that TGF-β and TNF-α induce the endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT), in which endothelial cells (ECs) acquire mesenchymal phenotypes. The ECs that have undergone EndMT, in turn, secrete TGF-β2 and Activin by themselves. The irreversible and long-lasting effects by the cytokines result in the stabilization of mesenchymal phenotypes of ECs. The secreted cytokines derived from the ECs also induce the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of epithelial cancer cells, which contributes to tumor progression.

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Department of Biochemistry,TMDU

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