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Cancer Microenvironment

Section edited by Davide Bedognetti and Jessica Roelands

© © nopparit / Getty Images / iStock

The Cancer microenvironment section publishes research on the cellular and molecular components of the cancer microenvironment, with a particular focus on translational research that has important implications for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human neoplasms.

Submissions that relate to the characterisation of the molecular profile and regulation of cancers at different tumour stages are especially welcome, as are those which identify specific cancer microenvironments that predict tumour incidence, response to therapy and outcome. Laboratory studies of new drugs and biological agents that target cancer microenvironments will also be considered.

Featured articles


microRNA-1271 impedes the development of prostate cancer by downregulating PES1 and upregulating ERβ

Research | Zhenming Jiang et al


Tumor microenvironment differences between primary tumor and brain metastases

Review | Bernardo Cacho-Díaz et al


Identification of key genes controlling breast cancer stem cell characteristics via stemness indices analysis

Research | Jianying Pei et al

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  1. Gamma delta (γδ) T cells demonstrate strong cytotoxicity against diverse cancer cell types in an MHC-independent manner, rendering them promising contenders for cancer therapy. Although amplification and adopt...

    Authors: Jian Liu, Min Wu, Yifan Yang, Zixuan Wang, Shan He, Xun Tian and Hui Wang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:553
    Content type: Review Published on:

  2. Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly heterogeneous, recurrent and aggressively invasive primary malignant brain tumor. The heterogeneity of GBM results in poor targeted therapy. Therefore, the aim of this study is t...

    Authors: Liping Wang, Xinyi Li, Chengshi Xu, Danwen Wang, Chao Ma, Zefen Wang, Yirong Li and Zhiqiang Li
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:551
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. Recently, research on the human microbiome, especially concerning the bacteria within the digestive system, has substantially advanced. This exploration has unveiled a complex interplay between microbiota and ...

    Authors: Weiqin Lu, Aihemaitijiang Aihaiti, Paziliya Abudukeranmu, Yajun Liu and Huihui Gao
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:545
    Content type: Review Published on:

  5. Immunotherapy has brought about a paradigm shift in the treatment of cancer. However, the majority of patients exhibit resistance or become refractory to immunotherapy, and the underlying mechanisms remain to ...

    Authors: Hong Liu, Xiaoxian Sima, Bijing Xiao, Haimiti Gulizeba, Shen Zhao, Ting Zhou and Yan Huang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:486
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a malignant tumor with a poor prognosis. Traditional treatments have limited effectiveness. Regulation of the immune response represents a promising new approach for OSCC...

    Authors: Wenqiang Xie, Jinjin Lu, Yichen Chen, Xi Wang, Huanzi Lu, Qunxing Li, Nianqiang Jin, Jiankang He, Lingling Ou, Jia Ni, Yuqin Shen and Longquan Shao
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:477
    Content type: Research Published on:

  7. Vessels encapsulating tumor clusters (VETC) is a newly described vascular pattern that is distinct from microvascular invasion (MVI) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Despite its importance, the...

    Authors: Si-Ping Xiong, Chun-Hua Wang, Mei-fang Zhang, Xia Yang, Jing-Ping Yun and Li-Li Liu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:472
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. Lung cancer is a prevalent malignancy globally, and immunotherapy has revolutionized its treatment. However, resistance to immunotherapy remains a challenge. Abnormal cholinesterase (ChE) activity and choline ...

    Authors: Bijing Xiao, Guanjun Li, Haimiti Gulizeba, Hong Liu, Xiaoxian Sima, Ting Zhou and Yan Huang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:442
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are known to play a crucial role in the growth, migration, recurrence, and drug resistance of tumor cells, particularly in triple-negative breast can...

    Authors: Min Zhang, Fangxu Zhang, Jianfeng Wang, Qian Liang, Weibing Zhou and Jian Liu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:423
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is a highly malignant neoplasm and characterized by desmoplastic matrix. The heterogeneity and crosstalk of tumor microenvironment remain incompletely understood.

    Authors: Yan-Jie Zhong, Xi-Mei Luo, Fei Liu, Zhi-Qiang He, Si-Qi Yang, Wen-Jie Ma, Jun-Ke Wang, Yu-Shi Dai, Rui-Qi Zou, Ya-Fei Hu, Tian-Run Lv, Fu-Yu Li and Hai-Jie Hu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:422
    Content type: Research Published on:

  12. Myxoid liposarcoma (MLS) displays a distinctive tumor microenvironment and is characterized by the FUS::DDIT3 fusion oncogene, however, the precise functional contributions of these two elements remain enigmatic ...

    Authors: Parmida Ranji, Emma Jonasson, Lisa Andersson, Stefan Filges, Manuel Luna Santamaría, Christoffer Vannas, Soheila Dolatabadi, Anna Gustafsson, Ola Myklebost, Joakim Håkansson, Henrik Fagman, Göran Landberg, Pierre Åman and Anders Ståhlberg
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:389
    Content type: Research Published on:

  13. Molecular subtyping is expected to enable precise treatment. However, reliable subtyping strategies for clinical application remains defective and controversial. Given the significance of tumor immune dysfunct...

    Authors: Kun Zheng, Youlong Hai, Hongqi Chen, Yukun Zhang, Xiaoyong Hu and Kai Ni
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:365
    Content type: Research Published on:

  14. Recent studies have increasingly revealed the connection between metabolic reprogramming and tumor progression. However, the specific impact of metabolic reprogramming on inter-patient heterogeneity and progno...

    Authors: Xinti Sun, Minyu Nong, Fei Meng, Xiaojuan Sun, Lihe Jiang, Zihao Li and Peng Zhang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:353
    Content type: Research Published on:

  15. SIRPB1 expression is upregulated in various tumor types, including gliomas, and is known to contribute to tumor progression; nevertheless, its function in the immune milieu of gliomas is still mainly unknown.

    Authors: Ren Geng, Yao Zhao, Wanzhen Xu, Xiaoshan Ma, Yining Jiang, Xuefei Han, Liyan Zhao and Yunqian Li
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:338
    Content type: Research Published on:

  16. Protein cysteine oxidation is substantially involved in various biological and pathogenic processes, but its implications in pancreatic cancer development remains poorly understood.

    Authors: Chaochao Tan, Lichun Chen, Xiaoyu Guan, Wenyi Huang, Yinhong Feng, Ziyi Li, Ling Wu, Xiangping Huang, Qianhui Ouyang, Sixiang Liu, Ying Huang and Jiliang Hu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:287
    Content type: Research Published on:

  17. Ovarian cancer (OC) is distinguished by its aggressive nature and the limited efficacy of current treatment strategies. Recent studies have emphasized the significant role of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF...

    Authors: Songwei Feng, Bo Ding, Zhu Dai, Han Yin, Yue Ding, Sicong Liu, Ke Zhang, Hao Lin, Zhongdang Xiao and Yang Shen
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:280
    Content type: Research Published on:

  18. The study of resistance-causing mutations in oncogene-driven tumors is fundamental to guide clinical decisions. Several point mutations affecting the ROS1 kinase domain have been identified in the clinical set...

    Authors: Marc Terrones, Christophe Deben, Felicia Rodrigues-Fortes, Anne Schepers, Ken Op de Beeck, Guy Van Camp and Geert Vandeweyer
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:234
    Content type: Research Published on:

  19. The global cellular landscape of the tumor microenvironment (TME) combining primary and metastatic liver tumors has not been comprehensively characterized.

    Authors: Menghui Gui, Shilin Huang, Shizhou Li, Yuying Chen, Furong Cheng, Yulin Liu, Ji-ao Wang, Yuting Wang, Rui Guo, Yiming Lu, Pengbo Cao and Gangqiao Zhou
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:206
    Content type: Research Published on:

  20. Aberrant upregulation of the ubiquitin-specific protease 14 (USP14) has been found in some malignant tumors, including oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). In this study, we further demonstrated that aberrantl...

    Authors: Xingming Zhang, Lou Geng, Yi Tang, Yingying Wang, Youping Zhang, Chujiao Zhu, Hu Lei, Hanzhang Xu, Qi Zhu, Yingli Wu and Wenli Gu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:193
    Content type: Research Published on:

  21. Digital histopathology provides valuable information for clinical decision-making. We hypothesized that a deep risk network (DeepRisk) based on digital pathology signature (DPS) derived from whole-slide images...

    Authors: Mengxin Tian, Zhao Yao, Yufu Zhou, Qiangjun Gan, Leihao Wang, Hongwei Lu, Siyuan Wang, Peng Zhou, Zhiqiang Dai, Sijia Zhang, Yihong Sun, Zhaoqing Tang, Jinhua Yu and Xuefei Wang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:182
    Content type: Research Published on:

  22. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the leading cancer worldwide. Microbial agents have been considered to contribute to the pathogenesis of different disease. But the underlying relevance between CRC and microbiota re...

    Authors: Shaomin Zou, Chao Yang, Jieping Zhang, Dan Zhong, Manqi Meng, Lu Zhang, Honglei Chen and Lekun Fang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:175
    Content type: Research Published on:

  23. Immunotherapy brings new hope to patients with advanced gastric cancer. However, liver metastases can reduce the efficacy of immunotherapy in patients. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) may be the cause of t...

    Authors: Yan Du, Yilin Lin, Lin Gan, Shuo Wang, Shuang Chen, Chen Li, Sen Hou, Bozhi Hu, Bo Wang, Yingjiang Ye and Zhanlong Shen
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:158
    Content type: Research Published on:

  24. Tumor cells of diffuse-type gastric cancer (DGC) are discohesive and infiltrate into the stroma as single cells or small subgroups, so the stroma significantly impacts DGC progression. Cancer-associated fibrob...

    Authors: Dagyeong Lee, In-Hye Ham, Hye Jeong Oh, Dong Min Lee, Jung Hwan Yoon, Sang-Yong Son, Tae-Min Kim, Jae-Young Kim, Sang-Uk Han and Hoon Hur
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:154
    Content type: Research Published on:

  25. The tumor-agnostic indication of immune checkpoint inhibitors to treat cancers with mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR)/microsatellite instability (MSI) increased the demand for such tests beyond Lynch syndrome....

    Authors: Maja L. Nádorvári, István Kenessey, András Kiss, Tamás Barbai, Janina Kulka, Erzsébet Rásó and József Tímár
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:150
    Content type: Research Published on:

  26. Lymph node metastasis (LNM) is a prognostic biomarker and affects therapeutic selection in colorectal cancer (CRC). Current evaluation methods are not adequate for estimating LNM in CRC. H&E images contain muc...

    Authors: Wei Jiang, Huaiming Wang, Xiaoyu Dong, Yandong Zhao, Chenyan Long, Dexin Chen, Botao Yan, Jiaxin Cheng, Zexi Lin, Shuangmu Zhuo, Hui Wang and Jun Yan
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:103
    Content type: Research Published on:

  27. Risk stratification and personalized care are crucial in managing osteosarcoma due to its complexity and heterogeneity. However, current prognostic prediction using clinical variables has limited accuracy. Thu...

    Authors: Guanyu Huang, Xuelin Zhang, Yu Xu, Shuo Chen, Qinghua Cao, Weihai Liu, Yiwei Fu, Qiang Jia, Jingnan Shen, Junqiang Yin and Jiajun Zhang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:88
    Content type: Research Published on:

  28. Metastasis is the leading cause of high mortality in colorectal cancer (CRC), which is not only driven by changes occurring within the tumor cells, but is also influenced by the dynamic interaction between can...

    Authors: Siyu Hou, Yuanchun Zhao, Jiajia Chen, Yuxin Lin and Xin Qi
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:62
    Content type: Review Published on:

  29. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are heterogeneous and can influence the progression of prostate cancer in multiple ways; however, their capacity to present and process antigens in PRAD has not been invest...

    Authors: Wenhao Wang, Tiewen Li, Zhiwen Xie, Jing Zhao, Yu Zhang, Yuan Ruan and Bangmin Han
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:57
    Content type: Research Published on:

  30. Muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is a highly aggressive disease with a poor prognosis. B cells are crucial factors in tumor suppression, and tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) facilitate immune cell recr...

    Authors: Hao Yuan, Xingning Mao, Yunkun Yan, Rong Huang, Qingyun Zhang, Yanyu Zeng, Mengying Bao, Yan Dai, Bo Fang, Junhao Mi, Yuli Xie, Xiang Wang, Haiying Zhang, Zengnan Mo and Rirong Yang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:48
    Content type: Research Published on:

  31. Aberrant intracellular or intercellular signaling pathways are important mechanisms that contribute to the development and progression of cancer. However, the intercellular communication associated with the de...

    Authors: Junfeng Zhang, Fuzhong Liu, Wenjia Guo, Xing Bi, Shuai Yuan, Fuerhaiti Shayiti, Ting Pan, Kailing Li and Peng Chen
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:37
    Content type: Research Published on:

  32. The tumor microenvironment clearly influences cancer progressing properties but less is known about how individual cancer microenvironments potentially moderate cancer treatment effects. By cultivating and tre...

    Authors: Maria Carmen Leiva, Anna Gustafsson, Elena Garre, Anders Ståhlberg, Anikó Kovács, Khalil Helou and Göran Landberg
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:924
    Content type: Research Published on:

  33. Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is poorly treated due to the presence of an inhibitory immune microenvironment. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) are an important component of TME. ALOX5 is an important...

    Authors: Jialu Chen, Yue Tang, Delong Qin, Xiaopeng Yu, Huanjun Tong, Chengwei Tang and Zhaohui Tang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:923
    Content type: Research Published on:

  34. The immune-related microenvironment of thymic carcinoid has rarely been reported. We analyzed the expression of PD-L1 and VISTA, and the distribution of CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells and CD68+ macrophages in the thy...

    Authors: Jiaqi Zhang, Chao Guo, Lei Liu, Ke Zhao, Mengxin Zhou, Yeye Chen and Shanqing Li
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:894
    Content type: Letter to the Editor Published on:

  35. The tumor microenvironment and intercellular communication between solid tumors and the surrounding stroma play crucial roles in cancer initiation, progression, and prognosis. Radiomics provides clinically rel...

    Authors: Ming Fan, Kailang Wang, You Zhang, Yuanyuan Ge, Zhong Lü and Lihua Li
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:851
    Content type: Research Published on:

  36. The tumor microenvironment plays a key role in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) development and also influences the effective response to immunotherapy. The pro-inflammatory factor interleukin-17A mediates i...

    Authors: Hua Liao, Xiaodan Chang, Lin Gao, Cuiping Ye, Yujie Qiao, Lingyan Xie, Jie Lin, Shaoxi Cai and Hangming Dong
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:828
    Content type: Research Published on:

  37. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are the most abundant stromal cell population in breast tumors. A functionally diverse population of CAFs increases the dynamic complexity of the tumor microenvironment (TM...

    Authors: Wenfeng Zhang, Jia Wang, Cun Liu, Ye Li, Changgang Sun, Jibiao Wu and Qibiao Wu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:827
    Content type: Review Published on:

  38. Tregs are key drivers of immunosuppression in solid tumors. As an important chemokine receptor on Tregs, the regulatory effect of CCR8 on tumor immunity has received more and more attention. However, the curre...

    Authors: Shuna Liu, Ziqi Tao, Jianfang Lou, Rong Li, Xin Fu, Juan Xu, Ting Wang, Lei Zhang, Wenwen Shang, Yepeng Mao and Fang Wang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:803
    Content type: Research Published on:

  39. The immune system plays a crucial role in initiating, progressing, and disseminating HNSCC. This study aims to investigate the differences in immune microenvironments between 2D-4-culture and 3D-4-culture mode...

    Authors: Jian Xiao, Yexun Song, Ru Gao, Mingyang You, Changxin Deng, Guolin Tan and Wei Li
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:771
    Content type: Research Published on:

  40. Animal models are widely used to study pathological processes and drug (side) effects in a controlled environment. There is a wide variety of methods available for establishing animal models depending on the r...

    Authors: Mikkel Schou Andersen, Mikkel Seremet Kofoed, Asger Sand Paludan-Müller, Christian Bonde Pedersen, Tiit Mathiesen, Christian Mawrin, Martin Wirenfeldt, Bjarne Winther Kristensen, Birgitte Brinkmann Olsen, Bo Halle and Frantz Rom Poulsen
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:764
    Content type: Review Published on:

  41. BRAF non-V600 mutation occupies a relatively small but critical subset in colorectal cancer (CRC). However, little is known about the biological functions and impacts of BRAF class III mutation in CRC. Here, w...

    Authors: Wenjing Li, Chenyi Zhao, Wenhui Li, Yang Gong, Kaili Ma, Yujie Lu, Xiaowei Liu, Lianjun Zhang and Feng Guo
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:737
    Content type: Research Published on:

  42. Many methodologies for selecting histopathological images, such as sample image patches or segment histology from regions of interest (ROIs) or whole-slide images (WSIs), have been utilized to develop survival...

    Authors: Yan-Jun Li, Hsin-Hung Chou, Peng-Chan Lin, Meng-Ru Shen and Sun-Yuan Hsieh
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:731
    Content type: Research Published on:

  43. The effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors in treating gallbladder cancer (GBC) remains unsatisfactory. Recently, several new immune checkpoints have been identified. However, investigations exploring t...

    Authors: Xing He, Yaorong Peng, Gui He, Huilin Ye, Liqiang Liu, Qixian Zhou, Juanyi Shi, Sha Fu, Jie Wang, Zhenyu Zhou and Wenbin Li
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:717
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:118

  44. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignant tumor. Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum) is overabundant in CRC and associated with metastasis, but the role of F. nucleatum in CRC cell migration a...

    Authors: Suwen Ou, Haipeng Chen, Hufei Wang, Jinhua Ye, Huidi Liu, Yangbao Tao, Songlin Ran, Xiaoqin Mu, Fangzhou Liu, Shuang Zhu, Kangjia Luo, Zilong Guan, Yinghu Jin, Rui Huang, Yanni Song and Shu-lin Liu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:704
    Content type: Research Published on:

  45. Non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) is known for its elevated recurrence rate, necessitating an enhancement in the current risk stratification for recurrence. The urine-based fluorescence in situ hybrid...

    Authors: Junjiong Zheng, Sihong Lu, Yi Huang, Xu Chen, Jie Zhang, Yuhui Yao, Jinhua Cai, Jieying Wu, Jianqiu Kong and Tianxin Lin
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:685
    Content type: Research Published on:

  46. Spinal cord glioma (SCG) is considered an orphan disease that lacks effective treatment options with margins that are surgically inaccessible and an overall paucity of literature on the topic. The tumor microe...

    Authors: Muhibullah S. Tora, Stewart G. Neill, Yuliya Lakhina, Hemza Assed, Michelle Zhang, Purva P. Nagarajan, Thais Federici, Juanmarco Gutierrez, Kimberly B. Hoang, Yuhong Du, Kecheng Lei and Nicholas M. Boulis
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:667
    Content type: Research Published on:

  47. Memory B cells and microRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in the progression of gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC), also known as stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD). However, few studies have investigated the use of mem...

    Authors: Ruquan Liu, Biaojie Huang, Yongzhao Shao, Yongming Cai, Xi Liu and Zhonglu Ren
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:648
    Content type: Research Published on:

  48. Cervical cancer is one of the most common gynecological cancers threatening women’s health worldwide. Double-stranded RNA-binding proteins (dsRBPs) regulate innate immunity and are therefore believed to be inv...

    Authors: Jin Li, Chong Wan, Xiaoqi Li, Chenlian Quan, Xiaoqiu Li and Xiaohua Wu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:647
    Content type: Research Published on:

  49. Despite immunotherapies having revolutionized the treatment of advanced cutaneous melanoma, effective and durable responses were only reported in a few patients. A better understanding of the interaction of me...

    Authors: Helene Schäfer, Karthikeyan Subbarayan, Chiara Massa, Christoforos Vaxevanis, Anja Mueller and Barbara Seliger
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:643
    Content type: Research Published on:

  50. Nowadays, the incidence rate of advanced and metastatic prostate cancer at the first time of diagnosis grows higher in China yearly. At present, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is the primary treatment of a...

    Authors: Ao Liu, Yi Gao, Qi Wang, Wenhao Lin, Zhiyang Ma, Xiaoqun Yang, Lu Chen and Danfeng Xu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2023 21:641
    Content type: Research Published on:
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