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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. MicroRNA (miRNA) mediate post-transcriptional gene repression and are involved in a variety of human diseases, including cancer. Soft tissue sarcomas are rare malignancies with a variety of histological subtyp...

    Authors: Clara Benna, Senthilkumar Rajendran, Marco Rastrelli and Simone Mocellin
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:153
  2. Esophageal cancer is the sixth-leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are the main reason for tumor relapse in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The NOTCH pathway i...

    Authors: Meysam Moghbeli, Hooman Mosannen Mozaffari, Bahram Memar, Mohammad Mahdi Forghanifard, Mehran Gholamin and Mohammad Reza Abbaszadegan
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:126
  3. Various proinflammatory cytokines can be detected within the melanoma tumor microenvironment. Interleukin 32 (IL32) is produced by T cells, NK cells and monocytes/macrophages, but also by a subset of melanoma ...

    Authors: Helicia Paz, Jennifer Tsoi, Anusha Kalbasi, Catherine S. Grasso, William H. McBride, Dörthe Schaue, Lisa H. Butterfield, Deena M. Maurer, Antoni Ribas, Thomas G. Graeber and James S. Economou
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:113
  4. Heparanase (HPSE) is an endo-beta-glucuronidase that degrades heparan sulfate (HS) chains on proteoglycans. The oligosaccharides generated by HPSE promote angiogenesis, tumor growth and metastasis. Heparanase-...

    Authors: Thérèse Rachell Theodoro, Leandro Luongo Matos, Renan Pelluzzi Cavalheiro, Giselle Zenker Justo, Helena Bonciani Nader and Maria Aparecida Silva Pinhal
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:103
  5. Identifying intestinal node-negative gastric adenocarcinoma (INGA) patients with high risk of recurrence could help perceive benefit of adjuvant therapy for INGA patients following surgical resection. This stu...

    Authors: Meng-Yao Ji, Lei Yuan, Xiao-Da Jiang, Zhi Zeng, Na Zhan, Ping-Xiao Huang, Cheng Lu and Wei-Guo Dong
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:92
  6. Hypercoagulation and neutrophilia are described in several cancers, however, whether they are involved in lung carcinogenesis is currently unknown. Emodin is the main bioactive component from Rheum palmatum an...

    Authors: Zibo Li, Yukun Lin, Shuhui Zhang, Lin Zhou, Guixi Yan, Yuehua Wang, Mengdi Zhang, Mengqi Wang, Haihong Lin, Qiaozhen Tong, Yongjian Duan and Gangjun Du
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:90
  7. Covalent RNA modifications, such as N-6-methyladenosine (m6A), have been associated with various biological processes, but their role in cancer remains largely unexplored. m6A dynamics depends on specific enzymes...

    Authors: João Lobo, Ana Laura Costa, Mariana Cantante, Rita Guimarães, Paula Lopes, Luís Antunes, Isaac Braga, Jorge Oliveira, Mattia Pelizzola, Rui Henrique and Carmen Jerónimo
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:79
  8. A hallmark of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is the desmoplastic reaction, but its impact on the tumor behavior remains controversial. Our aim was to introduce a computer -aided method to precisely quantify ...

    Authors: Fabio Grizzi, Sirio Fiorino, Dorina Qehajaj, Adele Fornelli, Carlo Russo, Dario de Biase, Michele Masetti, Laura Mastrangelo, Matteo Zanello, Raffaele Lombardi, Andrea Domanico, Esterita Accogli, Andrea Tura, Leonardo Mirandola, Maurizio Chiriva-Internati, Robert S. Bresalier…
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:61
  9. Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common cancer of bone. Jaw osteosarcoma (JOS) is rare and it differs from other OS in terms of the time of occurrence (two decades later) and better survival. The aim of our work ...

    Authors: Hélios Bertin, Romain Guilho, Régis Brion, Jérôme Amiaud, Séverine Battaglia, Anne Moreau, Anne Brouchet-Gomez, Julie Longis, Benoit Piot, Dominique Heymann, Pierre Corre and Françoise Rédini
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:56
  10. The altered concentrations of amino acids were found in the bone marrow or blood of leukemia patients. Metabolomics technology combining mathematical model of biomarkers could be used for assisting the diagnos...

    Authors: Zhidai Liu, Tingting Zhou, Xing Han, Tingyuan Lang, Shan Liu, Penghui Zhang, Haiyan Liu, Kexing Wan, Jie Yu, Liang Zhang, Liyan Chen, Roger W. Beuerman, Bin Peng, Lei Zhou and Lin Zou
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:38
  11. Melanoma cells develop adaptive responses in order to cope with particular conditions of tumor microenvironment, characterized by stress conditions and deregulated proliferation. Recently, the interplay betwee...

    Authors: Immacolata Maida, Paola Zanna, Stefania Guida, Anna Ferretta, Tiziana Cocco, Luigi Leonardo Palese, Paola Londei, Dario Benelli, Amalia Azzariti, Stefania Tommasi, Michele Guida, Giovanni Pellacani and Gabriella Guida
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:20
  12. The immune tumor microenvironment (iTME) is thought to affect the response to chemotherapy, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are often used as an indicator to evaluate the iTME. Smoking is involved in...

    Authors: Koji Takada, Shinichiro Kashiwagi, Yuka Asano, Wataru Goto, Katsuyuki Takahashi, Hisakazu Fujita, Tsutomu Takashima, Shuhei Tomita, Kosei Hirakawa and Masaichi Ohira
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:13
  13. The triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) paradox marks a major challenge in the treatment-decision making process. TNBC patients generally respond better to neoadjuvant chemotherapy compared to other breast ca...

    Authors: Ghaneya Al-Khadairi, Adviti Naik, Remy Thomas, Boshra Al-Sulaiti, Shaheen Rizly and Julie Decock
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:9
  14. Previously, we have demonstrated that Interleukin 13 receptor alpha 2 (IL-13Rα2) is overexpressed in approximate 78% Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) samples. We have also demonstrated that IL-13Rα2 can serve as ...

    Authors: Rukmini Bhardwaj, Akiko Suzuki, Pamela Leland, Bharat H. Joshi and Raj K. Puri
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:369
  15. Deregulated inflammation and immune deficit both intricately associate with cancer initiation and progression, which have been increasingly exploited as prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Recently,...

    Authors: Pengfei Diao, Yaping Wu, Jin Li, Wei Zhang, Rong Huang, Chen Zhou, Yanling Wang and Jie Cheng
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:365
  16. Because patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) are grown in immunodeficient mouse strains, PDXs are regarded as lacking an immune microenvironment. However, whether patients’ immune cells co-exist in PDXs remains u...

    Authors: Xingxiang Pu, Ran Zhang, Li Wang, Yungchang Chen, Yi Xu, Apar Pataer, Ismail M. Meraz, Xiaoshan Zhang, Shuhong Wu, Lin Wu, Dan Su, Weimin Mao, John V. Heymach, Jack A. Roth, Stephen G. Swisher and Bingliang Fang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:328
  17. Incomplete thermal ablation may induce invasiveness of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, we investigated whether activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) would accelerate the progression of residual HCC aft...

    Authors: Rui Zhang, Xia-Hui Lin, Min Ma, Jie Chen, Jun Chen, Dong-Mei Gao, Jie-Feng Cui and Rong-Xin Chen
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:302
  18. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) plays a pivotal role in breast cancer cell motility, invasion and angiogenesis. These pro-metastatic events are triggered through HGF coupling and activation of the c-Met recepto...

    Authors: Christian Parr and Ahmed Y. Ali
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:281
  19. The mainstay of treatment of advanced ovarian cancer (AOC) involves chemotherapy, and debulking surgery. However, despite optimal surgical procedure and adjuvant chemotherapy, 60% of patients with AOC will rel...

    Authors: Jennifer Pasquier, Fabien Vidal, Jessica Hoarau-Véchot, Claire Bonneau, Emile Daraï, Cyril Touboul and Arash Rafii
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:271
  20. Approximately half of the documented increases in differentiated thyroid carcinoma is due to identification of papillary thyroid microcarcinomas (PTMCs). Knowing whether PTMC is aggressive is required for prop...

    Authors: Jianlu Song, Shouxin Wu, Xiaotian Xia, Yu Wang, Youben Fan and Zhili Yang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:269
  21. The American Joint Committee on Cancer has recently revised the tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging system on thyroid cancer, which illustrated that the cut-off age for predicting mortality has elevated from 4...

    Authors: Weiheng Wen, Peili Wu, Jitong Li, He Wang, Jia Sun and Hong Chen
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:261
  22. Hyaluronan (HA), a major component of the extracellular matrix, has been proven to play a crucial role in tumor progression. However, it remains unknown whether HA exerts any effects in myelodysplastic syndrom...

    Authors: Cheng-Ming Fei, Juan Guo, You-Shan Zhao, Si-Da Zhao, Qing-Qing Zhen, Lei Shi, Xiao Li and Chun-Kang Chang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:234
  23. Multiple myeloma (MM) is a cancer of terminally differentiated plasma that is part of a spectrum of blood diseases. The role of the micro-environment is crucial for MM clonal evolution.

    Authors: Angelina Boccarelli, Flavia Esposito, Mauro Coluccia, Maria Antonia Frassanito, Angelo Vacca and Nicoletta Del Buono
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:217
  24. Currently, mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR) status is a promising candidate for targeted immune checkpoint inhibition therapy in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, however, the potential immunological mechanism...

    Authors: Shou-Sheng Liu, Yuan-Zhong Yang, Chang Jiang, Qi Quan, Qian-Kun Xie, Xiao-Pai Wang, Wen-Zhuo He, Yu-Ming Rong, Ping Chen, Qiong Yang, Lin Yang, Bei Zhang, Xiao-Jun Xia, Peng-Fei Kong and Liang-Ping Xia
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:195
  25. Vimentin (VIM) is a type III intermediate filament that maintains cell integrity, and is involved in cell migration, motility and adhesion. When overexpressed in solid cancers, vimentin drives epithelial to me...

    Authors: Sharon Wu, Yang Du, John Beckford and Houda Alachkar
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:170
  26. Hypoxia-mediated chemoresistance has been regarded as an important obstacle in the development of cancer treatment. Knockdown of krüppel-like factor 5 (KLF5) was reported to inhibit hypoxia-induced cell surviv...

    Authors: Tianxiao Gong, Liuqing Cui, Haili Wang, Haoxun Wang and Na Han
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:164
  27. Tumor-promoting inflammation is an emerging hallmark of cancer, which participates in both cancer progression and immune escape. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a typical inflammation-related cancer with an ...

    Authors: Chun Xu, Xian Lu, Wei Liu, Anxian Chen, Gang Meng, Hailin Zhang, Binghua Li, Yonghui Zhang, Junhua Wu and Jiwu Wei
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:132
  28. It has been reported mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are recruited to and become integral parts of the tumor microenvironment. MSCs might have an active role in solid tumor progression, especially cancer metasta...

    Authors: Jing-Huan Li, Wen-Shuai Fan, Mi-Mi Wang, Yan-Hong Wang and Zheng-Gang Ren
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:113
  29. Cisplatin is a widely used chemotherapeutic agent for treatment of various cancers. However, treatment with cisplatin is associated with drug resistance and several adverse side effects such as nephrotoxicity,...

    Authors: Iman W. Achkar, Nabeel Abdulrahman, Hend Al-Sulaiti, Jensa Mariam Joseph, Shahab Uddin and Fatima Mraiche
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:96
  30. Stromal gene expression patterns predict patient outcomes in colorectal cancer. TRIM28 is a transcriptional co-repressor that regulates an abundance of genes through the KRAB domain family of transcription fac...

    Authors: Seán Fitzgerald, Virginia Espina, Lance Liotta, Katherine M. Sheehan, Anthony O’Grady, Robert Cummins, Richard O’Kennedy, Elaine W. Kay and Gregor S. Kijanka
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:89
  31. The trastuzumab, pertuzumab, and docetaxel (TPD) regimen is strongly recommended as a treatment option for first-line therapy for advanced human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) 2-positive breast cancer....

    Authors: Koji Takada, Shinichiro Kashiwagi, Wataru Goto, Yuka Asano, Katsuyuki Takahashi, Tsutomu Takashima, Shuhei Tomita, Masahiko Ohsawa, Kosei Hirakawa and Masaichi Ohira
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:86
  32. Recently, the concepts of progression due to pre-existing lesions (PPL) and progression due to new metastasis (PNM) have been proposed to differentiate the progression types of treatment-resistant cancers. Pre...

    Authors: Shinichiro Kashiwagi, Gen Tsujio, Yuka Asano, Wataru Goto, Koji Takada, Katsuyuki Takahashi, Tamami Morisaki, Hisakazu Fujita, Tsutomu Takashima, Shuhei Tomita, Masahiko Ohsawa, Kosei Hirakawa and Masaichi Ohira
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:54
  33. CD133 is a marker of stem cells as well cancer stem cells. This study investigated the association between CD133 expression in cancer cells and the clinical outcome of non-mucin producing intrahepatic cholangi...

    Authors: Xiaobo Cai, Jun Li, Xiaodong Yuan, Jingbo Xiao, Steven Dooley, Xinjian Wan, Honglei Weng and Lungen Lu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:50
  34. Esophageal carcinoma is the eighth prevalent malignancy and ranks the sixth in carcinoma-related death worldwide. Tumor necrosis factor-α-induced protein-8 like-2 (TIPE2) has been identified as a tumor suppres...

    Authors: Linan Zhu, Xudong Zhang, Xiaorui Fu, Zhaoming Li, Zhenchang Sun, Jingjing Wu, Xinhua Wang, Feng Wang, Xiangke Li, Songtao Niu, Mengjie Ding, Zhenzhen Yang, Wanqiu Yang, Meifeng Yin, Lei Zhang and Mingzhi Zhang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:7
  35. Prostate cancer (PCa) is a complex disorder resulting from the combined effects of multiple environmental and genetic factors. Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs), particularly microRNAs (miRNAs), regulate several c...

    Authors: Jingxuan Shan, Khalid Al-Rumaihi, Karim Chouchane, Issam Al-Bozom, Danny Rabah, Karim Farhat and Lotfi Chouchane
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:260
  36. Metastasis is a major threat to colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. We have reported that peroxiredoxin-2 (PRDX2) is associated with CRC invasion and metastasis. However, the mechanisms regulating PRDX2 expressi...

    Authors: Zhenbing Lv, Jinlai Wei, Wenxian You, Rong Wang, Jingkun Shang, Yongfu Xiong, Hua Yang, Xuanhua Yang and Zhongxue Fu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:257
  37. Studies investigating the oxygenation status and the development of hypoxia in microscopic tumors are sparse. The purpose of this study was to measure the extent of hypoxia in microscopic melanoma xenografts a...

    Authors: Jon-Vidar Gaustad, Trude G. Simonsen, Lise Mari K. Andersen and Einar K. Rofstad
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:241
  38. Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is an aggressive tumor with a high fatality rate. It was recently found that parathyroid hormone-like hormone (PTHLH) was frequently overexpressed in ICC compared with non...

    Authors: Jing Tang, Yan Liao, Shuying He, Jie Shi, Liang Peng, Xiaoping Xu, Fang Xie, Na Diao, Jinlan Huang, Qian Xie, Chuang Lin, Xiaoying Luo, Kaili Liao, Juanjuan Ma, Jingyi Li, Daichao Zhou…
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:238
  39. The use of patient-derived primary cell cultures in cancer preclinical assays has increased in recent years. The management of resected tumor tissue remains complex and a number of parameters must be respected...

    Authors: Giacomo Miserocchi, Laura Mercatali, Chiara Liverani, Alessandro De Vita, Chiara Spadazzi, Federica Pieri, Alberto Bongiovanni, Federica Recine, Dino Amadori and Toni Ibrahim
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:229
  40. Abnormalities in the tumor microenvironment are associated with resistance to treatment, aggressive growth, and poor clinical outcome in patients with advanced cervical cancer. The potential of dynamic contras...

    Authors: Anette Hauge, Catherine S. Wegner, Jon-Vidar Gaustad, Trude G. Simonsen, Lise Mari K. Andersen and Einar K. Rofstad
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:225
  41. There is increasing evidence that the existence of systemic inflammation response is correlated with poor prognosis in several solid tumors. The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate the associati...

    Authors: Yu-Suo Tong, Juan Tan, Xi-Lei Zhou, Ya-Qi Song and Ying-Jian Song
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:221
  42. The predictive accuracy of the traditional staging system is based on disease progression as a tumour cell-autonomous process, but it fails to incorporate the effects of the host immune response. A precise ana...

    Authors: Jerome Galon, Alessandro Lugli, Carlo Bifulco, Franck Pages, Giuseppe Masucci, Francesco M. Marincola and Paolo A. Ascierto
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:212
  43. Autophagy is a highly regulated biological process that mediates the degradation of intracellular components. It is required for tumor cell metabolism and homeostasis. Yin-Yang 1 (YY1) has been reported to be ...

    Authors: Chuang Yang, Jing-Jing Zhang, Yun-Peng Peng, Yi Zhu, Ling-Di Yin, Ji-Shu Wei, Wen-Tao Gao, Kui-Rong Jiang and Yi Miao
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:211
  44. The mitochondrial protein p32 is a validated therapeutic target of cancer overexpressed in glioma. Therapeutic targeting of p32 with monoclonal antibody or p32-binding LyP-1 tumor-homing peptide can limit tumo...

    Authors: Venkata Yenugonda, Natsuko Nomura, Valentina Kouznetsova, Igor Tsigelny, Valentina Fogal, Elmar Nurmemmedov, Santosh Kesari and Ivan Babic
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:210
  45. Extracellular acidosis is a condition found within the tumor microenvironment due to inadequate blood perfusion, hypoxia, and altered tumor cell metabolism. Acidosis has pleiotropic effects on malignant progre...

    Authors: Calvin R. Justus, Edward J. Sanderlin, Lixue Dong, Tianai Sun, Jen-Tsan Chi, Kvin Lertpiriyapong and Li V. Yang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:204
  46. Malignant melanoma of the skin can metastasize through blood vessels and lymphatics. The primary tumor develops a vascular microenvironment characterized by abnormal blood vessels and lymphatics and a physicoc...

    Authors: Ruixia Huang, Lise Mari K. Andersen and Einar K. Rofstad
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:203
  47. Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly aggressive primary brain cancer, for which curative therapies are not available. An emerging therapeutic approach suggested to have potential to target malignant gliomas has been...

    Authors: Joana Vieira de Castro, Eduardo D. Gomes, Sara Granja, Sandra I. Anjo, Fátima Baltazar, Bruno Manadas, António J. Salgado and Bruno M. Costa
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:200
  48. SLFN11 is a recently discovered protein with a putative DNA/RNA helicase function. First identified in association with the maturation of thymocytes, SLFN11 was later causally associated, by two independent gr...

    Authors: Alberto Ballestrero, Davide Bedognetti, Domenico Ferraioli, Paola Franceschelli, Sana Intidhar Labidi-Galy, Elisabetta Leo, Junko Murai, Yves Pommier, Petros Tsantoulis, Valerio Gaetano Vellone and Gabriele Zoppoli
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:199
  49. In order to improve therapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), biomarkers associated with local and/or distant tumor relapses and cancer drug resistance are urgently needed. This study identifi...

    Authors: Shutong Liu, Bo Ren, Hang Gao, Suchan Liao, Ying-Xian Zhai, Shirong Li, Xue-Jin Su, Ping Jin, David Stroncek, Zhixiang Xu, Qinghua Zeng and Yulin Li
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:189
  50. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal cancers worldwide owing to its high rates of metastasis and recurrence. The oncogene IQ motif-containing GTPase activating protein 3 (IQGAP3) is ubiquitous...

    Authors: Yongjie Shi, Nan Qin, Qiang Zhou, Yanqiu Chen, Sicong Huang, Bo Chen, Gang Shen and Hongyun Jia
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:176

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