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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. Tumour invading muscle in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is often associated with destructive growth and poor prognosis. However, the phenotypic functions and pathological mechanisms of muscle-i...

    Authors: Guozhong Zeng, Yi Shen, Wei Sun, Huanzi Lu, Yujie Liang, Jiashun Wu and Guiqing Liao
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:909
  2. Arginase is abundantly expressed in colorectal cancer and disrupts arginine metabolism, promoting the formation of an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. This significant factor contributes to the insens...

    Authors: Jun Wang, Shenghe Deng, Denglong Cheng, Junnan Gu, Le Qin, Fuwei Mao, Yifan Xue, Zhenxin Jiang, Mian Chen, Falong Zou, Ning Huang, Yinghao Cao and Kailin Cai
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:908
  3. Risk stratification and treatment benefit prediction models are urgent to improve negative sentinel lymph node (SLN-) melanoma patient selection, thus avoiding costly and toxic treatments in patients at low ri...

    Authors: Maria Colomba Comes, Livia Fucci, Sabino Strippoli, Samantha Bove, Gerardo Cazzato, Carmen Colangiuli, Ivana De Risi, Ileana De Roma, Annarita Fanizzi, Fabio Mele, Maurizio Ressa, Concetta Saponaro, Clara Soranno, Rosita Tinelli, Michele Guida, Alfredo Zito…
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:838
  4. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are the major factor in gastric cancer (GC) immune evasion. Nevertheless, the molecular process underlying the expansion of MDSCs induced by tumor-derived exosomes (TDE...

    Authors: Huaizhi Li, Xu Chen, Shanshan Zheng, Bo Han, Xiang Zhang, Xiaoxia Zheng, Yujia Lu, Qingmin Sun, Xufeng Hu and Jian Wu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:821
  5. At present, immunotherapy has become a powerful treatment for advanced gastric cancer (AGC), but not all patients can benefit from it. According to the latest research, the impact of B cell subpopulations on t...

    Authors: Xing Cai, Jinru Yang, Yusheng Guo, Yanchao Yu, Chuansheng Zheng and Xiaofang Dai
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:807
  6. Colorectal cancer is the third most common tumour entity in the world and up to 50% of the patients develop liver metastases (CRLM) within five years. To improve and personalize therapeutic strategies, new dia...

    Authors: Lisa-Marie Skrip, Simon Moosburner, Peter Tang, Jing Guo, Steffen Görner, Heiko Tzschätzsch, Kristin Brüggemann, Kilian Alexander Walter, Clarissa Hosse, Uli Fehrenbach, Alexander Arnold, Dominik Modest, Felix Krenzien, Wenzel Schöning, Thomas Malinka, Johann Pratschke…
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:774
  7. ERAP2 is an aminopeptidase involved in antigen processing and presentation, and harbor genetic variants linked to several inflammatory diseases such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The lack of an ERAP2 ge...

    Authors: Siri Sæterstad, Ann Elisabeth Østvik, Marianne Doré Hansen, Torunn Bruland and Atle van Beelen Granlund
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:750

    The Correction to this article has been published in Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:849

  8. Cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) play an important role in initiation and progression of aggressive cancers, including esophageal cancer. Natural killer (NK) cells are key effector lymphocytes of innate immunity ...

    Authors: Bo Tang, Mengxing Guo, Yujia Zhai, Kai Zhang, Kaiyuan Ni, Yi Zhang and Lan Huang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:737
  9. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been implicated in the development and progression of gastric cancer (GC). However, it remains unclear whether dysregulated circRNA affects immune escape and the efficacy of immun...

    Authors: Yanna Li, Zhixiong Wang, Peng Gao, Danping Cao, Runyu Dong, Menglin Zhu, Yao Fei, Xueliang Zuo and Juan Cai
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:704
  10. Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is a prevalent malignancy with complex heterogeneity within epithelial cells, which plays a crucial role in tumor progression and immune regulation. Yet, the clinical im...

    Authors: Songyang Liu, Ge Li, Xiaomao Yin, Yihan Zhou, Dongmei Luo, Zhenggang Yang, Jin Zhang and Jianfeng Wang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:607
  11. Uveal melanoma (UM), the most common adult intraocular tumor, is characterized by high malignancy and poor prognosis in advanced stages. Angiogenesis is critical for UM development, however, not only the role ...

    Authors: Liang Ma, Xiaoyu He, Yidian Fu, Shengfang Ge and Zhi Yang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:605
  12. 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
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. 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
  17. 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
  18. 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
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. 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
  23. 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
  24. 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
  25. 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
  26. 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
  27. 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
  28. 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
  29. 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
  30. 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
  31. 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
  32. 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
  33. 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
  34. 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
  35. 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
  36. 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
  37. 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
  38. 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
  39. 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
  40. 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
  41. 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
  42. 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
  43. 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
  44. 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
  45. 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
  46. 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

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