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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. Dendritic cells (DC) and tumour-associated macrophages (TAM) are essential in linking the innate and adaptive immune response against tumour cells and tumour progression. These cells are also potential target ...

    Authors: Sebastian Lundgren, Emelie Karnevi, Jacob Elebro, Björn Nodin, Mikael C. I. Karlsson, Jakob Eberhard, Karin Leandersson and Karin Jirström
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:152
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. The interaction of vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C)/VEGF-D/VEGF receptor-3 is considered to be a major driver of lymphangiogenesis, however the mechanism of this process remains unclear. We aimed ...

    Authors: Haruhisa Kitano, Joon-Yong Chung, Kyung Hee Noh, Young-Ho Lee, Tae Woo Kim, Seok Hyung Lee, Soo-Heang Eo, Hyung Jun Cho, Chel Hun Choi, Shuhei Inoue, Jun Hanaoka, Junya Fukuoka and Stephen M. Hewitt
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:138
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. Shikonin, a natural naphthoquinone pigment purified from Lithospermum erythrorhizon, induces necroptosis in various cancer types, but the mechanisms underlying the anticancer activity of shikonin in lung cancer a...

    Authors: Hyo-Jin Kim, Ki-Eun Hwang, Do-Sim Park, Seon-Hee Oh, Hong Young Jun, Kwon-Ha Yoon, Eun-Taik Jeong, Hak-Ryul Kim and Young-Suk Kim
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:123
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. Imatinib causes increased turnover of stromal collagen, reduces collagen fibril diameter, enhances extracellular fluid turnover and lowers interstitial fluid pressure (IFP) in the human colonic carcinoma KAT-4...

    Authors: Mikhail Burmakin, Tijs van Wieringen, P. Olof Olsson, Linda Stuhr, Aive Åhgren, Carl-Henrik Heldin, Rolf K. Reed, Kristofer Rubin and Carina Hellberg
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:47
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. In a previously reported study, patients with regionally advanced melanoma were treated with neoadjuvant ipilimumab (ipi) (Tarhini in PLoS ONE 9(2): e87705, 3). Significant changes in circulating myeloid derived...

    Authors: Yana G. Najjar, Fei Ding, Yan Lin, Robert VanderWeele, Lisa H. Butterfield and Ahmad A. Tarhini
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:39
    Content type: Research Published on:

  7. The robust desmoplasia associated with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) suggests that the tumor microenvironment may be an important component in the pathophysiology of this cancer. Moreover, the ...

    Authors: Tammara L. Watts, Ruwen Cui, Peter Szaniszlo, Vicente A. Resto, Don W. Powell and Irina V. Pinchuk
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:337
    Content type: Research Published on:

  8. Non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) are the most frequent hemato-oncological malignancies. Despite recent major advances in treatment, a substantial proportion of patients relapses highlighting the need for new therap...

    Authors: Thais Bascuas, María Moreno, Amy Mónaco, Laura Reyes, Andrea Paolino, Patricia Oliver, María G. Kramer, Henry Engler, José P. Pacheco, Sofía Grille and José A. Chabalgoity
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:323
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. E-cadherin is a major component of adherens junctions that regulates cell shape and maintains tissue integrity. A complete loss or any decrease in cell surface expression of E-cadherin will interfere with the ...

    Authors: Hager Memni, Yosra Macherki, Zahra Klayech, Ahlem Ben-Haj-Ayed, Karim Farhat, Yassmine Remadi, Sallouha Gabbouj, Wijden Mahfoudh, Nadia Bouzid, Noureddine Bouaouina, Lotfi Chouchane, Abdelfattah Zakhama and Elham Hassen
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:320
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. In recent years, immunomodulatory mechanisms of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) from bone marrow and other “classic” sources have been described. However, the phenotypic and functional properties of tumo...

    Authors: María de Lourdes Mora-García, Rosario García-Rocha, Omar Morales-Ramírez, Juan José Montesinos, Benny Weiss-Steider, Jorge Hernández-Montes, Luis Roberto Ávila-Ibarra, Christian Azucena Don-López, Marco Antonio Velasco-Velázquez, Vianey Gutiérrez-Serrano and Alberto Monroy-García
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:302
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. Age has been reported as an independent prognostic factor for melanoma-specific survival (MSS). We tested the hypothesis that age impacts the host anti-tumor immune response, accounting for age-specific surviv...

    Authors: Sarah A. Weiss, Joseph Han, Farbod Darvishian, Jeremy Tchack, Sung Won Han, Karolina Malecek, Michelle Krogsgaard, Iman Osman and Judy Zhong
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:299
    Content type: Research Published on:

  12. Tumor microenvironment (TME) plays an integral part in the biology of cancer, participating in tumor initiation, progression, and response to therapy. Exosome is an important part of TME. Exosomes are small ve...

    Authors: Zhen Wang, Jun-Qiang Chen, Jin-lu Liu and Lei Tian
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:297
    Content type: Review Published on:

  13. Several cellular functions relate to ion-channels activity. Physiologically relevant chains of events leading to angiogenesis, cell cycle and different forms of cell death, require transmembrane voltage contro...

    Authors: Antonella Biasiotta, Daniela D’Arcangelo, Francesca Passarelli, Ezio Maria Nicodemi and Antonio Facchiano
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:285
    Content type: Research Published on:

  14. Molecular subtypes of breast cancer and presence of tumor-infiltrating immune cells have both been implicated as important predictive and prognostic factors for improved risk stratification and treatment indiv...

    Authors: M. Miyan, J. Schmidt-Mende, R. Kiessling, I. Poschke and J. de Boniface
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:227
    Content type: Research Published on:

  15. Acquired radioresistance during radiotherapy is considered as the most important reason for local tumor recurrence or treatment failure. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have recently been identified as microRNA spong...

    Authors: Huafang Su, Fuqiang Lin, Xia Deng, Lanxiao Shen, Ya Fang, Zhenghua Fei, Lihao Zhao, Xuebang Zhang, Huanle Pan, Deyao Xie, Xiance Jin and Congying Xie
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:225
    Content type: Research Published on:

  16. Immune regulation is crucial for the pathogenesis of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). It has been reported that Th17 cells as a newly identified subset of CD4+ T cells are involved in the pathogenesis...

    Authors: Laixi Bi, Junqing Wu, Aifang Ye, Jianbo Wu, Kang Yu, Shenghui Zhang and Yixiang Han
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:132
    Content type: Research Published on:

  17. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) X protein (HBx) is a type of oncogenic protein involved in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) via interacting with host genes. Dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) has bee...

    Authors: Guifang Yu, Xuezhu Chen, Shudi Chen, Weipeng Ye, Kailian Hou and Min Liang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:122
    Content type: Research Published on:

  18. Angiogenesis inhibition is a promising approach for treating metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Recent evidences support the seemingly counterintuitive ability of certain antiangiogenic drugs to promote norm...

    Authors: V. Leuci, F. Maione, R. Rotolo, E. Giraudo, F. Sassi, G. Migliardi, M. Todorovic, L. Gammaitoni, G. Mesiano, L. Giraudo, P. Luraghi, F. Leone, F. Bussolino, G. Grignani, M. Aglietta, L. Trusolino…
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:119
    Content type: Research Published on:

  19. TLR4/MD-2 complex-mediated MyD88-dependent activation of NF-κB and Akt promotes tumor-associated immunosuppression in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) via induction of immunesuppressive cytokines and indoleamin...

    Authors: Hong Liu, Guonan Zhang, Jianming Huang, Shiqi Ma, Kun Mi, Jia Cheng, Yi Zhu, Xiao Zha and Wei Huang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:104
    Content type: Research Published on:

  20. Changes in the tumor microenvironment and immune surveillance represent crucial hallmarks of various kinds of cancer, including oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), and a close crosstalk of hypoxia regulating ...

    Authors: Alexander W. Eckert, Claudia Wickenhauser, Paul C. Salins, Matthias Kappler, Juergen Bukur and Barbara Seliger
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:85
    Content type: Review Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:40

  21. Growing evidence is showing that metastatic cell populations are able to transfer their characteristics to less malignant cells. Exosomes (EXOs) are membrane vesicles of endocytic origin able to convey their c...

    Authors: Federica Felicetti, Alessandra De Feo, Carolina Coscia, Rossella Puglisi, Francesca Pedini, Luca Pasquini, Maria Bellenghi, Maria Cristina Errico, Elena Pagani and Alessandra Carè
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:56
    Content type: Research Published on:

  22. Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) activity has been implicated in the therapeutic drug resistance of many malignancies and has been widely used as a marker to identify stem-like cells, including in primary live...

    Authors: Prashasnika Gehlot, Vivek Shukla, Sanjay Gupta and Paul E. Makidon
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:49
    Content type: Research Published on:

  23. Long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that are involved in gene expression regulation. Taurine up-regulated gene 1 (TUG1) is a cancer progression related lncRNA in some tumor...

    Authors: Junfeng Sun, Chaohui Ding, Zhen Yang, Tao Liu, Xiefu Zhang, Chunlin Zhao and Jiaxiang Wang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:42
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Journal of Translational Medicine 2020 18:491

  24. The heterogeneous and dynamic tumor microenvironment has significant impact on cancer cell proliferation, invasion, drug response, and is probably associated with entering dormancy and recurrence. However, the...

    Authors: Josephine Y. Fang, Shih-Jye Tan, Yi-Chen Wu, Zhi Yang, Ba X. Hoang and Bo Han
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:38
    Content type: Research Published on:

  25. Nitrobenzoxadiazole derivatives (NBDs), including NBDHEX and the recently developed MC3181, are promising anticancer agents able to target glutathione transferase and inhibit both its catalytic activity and a...

    Authors: Camilla Palumbo, Anastasia De Luca, Nicola Rosato, Mariantonietta Forgione, Dante Rotili and Anna Maria Caccuri
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:37
    Content type: Research Published on:

  26. Tumour-derived microvesicles (TMVs) are important players in tumour progression, modulating biological activity of immune cells e.g. lymphocytes, monocytes and macrophages. This phenomenon is particularly inte...

    Authors: Monika Baj-Krzyworzeka, Bożenna Mytar, Rafał Szatanek, Marcin Surmiak, Kazimierz Węglarczyk, Jarek Baran and Maciej Siedlar
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:36
    Content type: Research Published on:

  27. CD24, a mucin-like membrane glycoprotein, plays a critical role in carcinogenesis, but its role in human gastric cancer and the underlying mechanism remains undefined.

    Authors: Wenjie Deng, Luo Gu, Xiaojie Li, Jianchao Zheng, Yujie Zhang, Biao Duan, Jie Cui, Jing Dong and Jun Du
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:32
    Content type: Research Published on:

  28. Fibroblasts are known as critical stromal cells in wound healing by synthesizing extracellular matrix and collagen. A subpopulation of them is called cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), because their product...

    Authors: Jiangfeng Wang, Guangyu Zhang, Jianbo Wang, Lu Wang, Xiaochen Huang and Yufeng Cheng
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:30
    Content type: Review Published on:

  29. Tumour cells release membrane micro(nano)fragments called tumour-derived microvesicles (TMV) that are believed to play an important role in cancer progression. TMV suppress/modify antitumour response of the ho...

    Authors: Małgorzata Stec, Rafał Szatanek, Monika Baj-Krzyworzeka, Jarosław Baran, Maria Zembala, Jakub Barbasz, Agnieszka Waligórska, Jurek W. Dobrucki, Bożenna Mytar, Antoni Szczepanik, Maciej Siedlar, Grażyna Drabik, Barbara Urbanowicz and Marek Zembala
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:376
    Content type: Research Published on:

  31. This study aimed to investigate whether the DNA methylation of human ovarian carcinoma stromal progenitor cells (OCSPCs) could promote the tumorigenesis of ovarian carcinoma.

    Authors: Chih-Ming Ho, Daniel Tzu-bi Shih, Chih-Chiang Hsiao, Shih-Hung Huang, Shwu-Fen Chang and Wen-Fang Cheng
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:367
    Content type: Research Published on:

  32. Fei-Liu-Ping (FLP) ointment is an oral prescription medication that has been widely applied to treat lung cancer patients in China. Regulation of the metastatic microenvironment is an important therapeutic app...

    Authors: Rui Liu, Honggang Zheng, Weidong Li, Qiujun Guo, Shulin He, Yoshiro Hirasaki, Wei Hou, Baojin Hua, Conghuang Li, Yanju Bao, Yebo Gao, Xin Qi, Yingxia Pei and Yun Zhang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:366
    Content type: Research Published on:

  33. Chemokines have been recognized as important modulators of angiogenesis, and they play critical roles in the development and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), although their origins and latent mole...

    Authors: Bing Zhu, Nan Lin, Min Zhang, Yong Zhu, Huanhuan Cheng, Shuxian Chen, Yunbiao Ling, Weidong Pan and Ruiyun Xu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:365
    Content type: Research Published on:

  34. To evaluate the influence of the progonistic nutritional index (PNI) and weight loss on metastasis and long-term mortality in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

    Authors: Xiao-Jing Du, Ling-Long Tang, Yan-Ping Mao, Rui Guo, Ying Sun, Ai-Hua Lin and Jun Ma
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:364
    Content type: Research Published on:

  35. Glioblastoma is the most common and lethal type of primary brain tumor. β-Elemene, a natural plant drug extracted from Curcuma wenyujin, has shown strong anti-tumor effects in various tumors with low toxicity. Ho...

    Authors: Tingzhun Zhu, Xiaoming Li, Lihan Luo, Xiaogang Wang, Zhiqing Li, Peng Xie, Xu Gao, Zhenquan Song, Jingyuan Su and Guobiao Liang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:356
    Content type: Research Published on:

  36. Heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) is a powerful, multifaceted modifier of carcinogenesis. However, the clinical significance and biologic function of HSF1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remain unknown.

    Authors: Yuehua Liao, Ying Xue, Lin Zhang, Xinwei Feng, Wanli Liu and Ge Zhang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:338
    Content type: Research Published on:

  37. This study aimed to investigate the expression of CD147 and MMP-11 in human colorectal cancer (CRC) and to evaluate their clinical significance.

    Authors: Xiuyun Tian, Chunxiang Ye, Yongyong Yang, Xiaoya Guan, Bin Dong, Min Zhao and Chunyi Hao
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:337
    Content type: Research Published on:

  38. Cisplatin is the main chemotherapeutic drug for the treatment of cervical cancers, however resistance to cisplatin is increasingly common and therefore has limited the efficacy and use of this drug in the clin...

    Authors: Gina Leisching, Benjamin Loos, Matthys Botha and Anna-Mart Engelbrecht
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:328
    Content type: Research Published on:

  39. Malignant pleural effusion resulting mainly from pleural metastases of lung adenocarcinoma has clinical relevance, being a sign of poor prognosis and low life expectancy. Experimental models can mimic the hum...

    Authors: Milena Marques Pagliarelli Acencio, Juliana Puka, Evaldo Marchi, Leila Antonangelo, Ricardo Mingarini Terra, Francisco Suso Vargas, Vera Luiza Capelozzi and Lisete Ribeiro Teixeira
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:302
    Content type: Research Published on:

  40. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated that deregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) was a common event in tumor tissues and miRNAs would be treated as ideal tumor biomarkers or therapeutic targets. miR-1...

    Authors: Jian Wu, Alin Ji, Xiao Wang, Yi Zhu, Yasai Yu, Yiwei Lin, Yunfu Liu, Shiqi Li, Zhen Liang, Xin Xu, Xiangyi Zheng and Liping Xie
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:289
    Content type: Research Published on:

  41. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a cytokine that has a profound effect on cancer cells by stimulating migration and invasion and acting as an angiogenic factor. In lung cancer, the factor also plays a pivota...

    Authors: Wen G. Jiang, Lin Ye, Fiona Ruge, Sioned Owen, Tracey Martin, Ping-Hui Sun, Andrew J. Sanders, Jane Lane, Lucy Satherley, Hoi P. Weeks, Yong Gao, Cong Wei, Yiling Wu and Malcolm D. Mason
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:280
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Journal of Translational Medicine 2024 22:20

  42. Various microRNAs (miRNAs) negatively modulate genes that are involved in cellular proliferation, differentiation, invasion, and apoptosis. In many types of cancer, the expression profiles of these miRNAs are ...

    Authors: MingHua Li, LinLi Tian, Hui Ren, XiaoXue Chen, Yu Wang, JingChun Ge, ShuLiang Wu, YaNan Sun, Ming Liu and Hui Xiao
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:271
    Content type: Research Published on:

  43. Liver metastases appear in 20–30% of patients diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and represent a poor prognosis feature of NSCLC and a possibly more treatment-resistant condition. Potential clin...

    Authors: Eduardo Castañón, Christian Rolfo, David Viñal, Inés López, Juan P Fusco, Marta Santisteban, Patricia Martin, Leire Zubiri, José I Echeveste and Ignacio Gil-Bazo
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:257
    Content type: Research Published on:

  44. Radioresistance is a challenge in the treatment of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Individuals display different therapeutic responses to preoperative radiotherapy, and the need of targeted therapies is...

    Authors: Lin Zheng, Yuqin Zhang, Yan Liu, Min Zhou, Yanxia Lu, Li Yuan, Chao Zhang, Min Hong, Shuang Wang and Xuenong Li
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:252
    Content type: Research Published on:

  45. Carcinoma associated fibroblasts (CAFs), an important component of tumor microenvironment, are capable of enhancing tumor cells invasion and migration through initiation of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (E...

    Authors: Songming Ding, Guoliang Chen, Wu Zhang, Chunyang Xing, Xiao Xu, Haiyang Xie, Aili Lu, Kangjie Chen, Haijun Guo, Zhigang Ren, Shusen Zheng and Lin Zhou
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:237
    Content type: Research Published on:

  46. We and others have extensively investigated the role of PARP-1 in cell growth and demise in response to pathophysiological cues. Most of the clinical trials on PARP inhibitors are targeting primarily estrogen ...

    Authors: Hogyoung Kim, Abdelmetalab Tarhuni, Zakaria Y Abd Elmageed and A Hamid Boulares
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:233
    Content type: Research Published on:

  47. In this era of precision medicine, the deep and comprehensive characterization of tumor phenotypes will lead to therapeutic strategies beyond classical factors such as primary sites or anatomical staging. Rece...

    Authors: Anna Halama, Bella S Guerrouahen, Jennifer Pasquier, Ilhem Diboun, Edward D Karoly, Karsten Suhre and Arash Rafii
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:223
    Content type: Research Published on:

  48. Cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) is the most studied element of the tumor microenvironment, although no relationship has been identified between expression of their related proteins and the metastasis site. ...

    Authors: Hye Min Kim, Woo Hee Jung and Ja Seung Koo
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:222
    Content type: Research Published on:

  49. Oncolytic virotherapy is a novel approach for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) which is still a fatal disease. Pathologic features of GBM are characterized by the infiltration with microglia/macr...

    Authors: Christina Kober, Susanne Rohn, Stephanie Weibel, Ulrike Geissinger, Nanhai G Chen and Aladar A Szalay
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:216
    Content type: Research Published on:

  50. Since the mid-1950’s, melanoma incidence has been rising steadily in industrialized Caucasian populations, thereby pointing to the pivotal involvement of environmental factors in melanomagenesis. Recent eviden...

    Authors: Bodo C Melnik
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:202
    Content type: Review Published on:
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