Cellular and Phenotypic Plasticity in Cancer

Cellular and Phenotypic Plasticity in Cancer
Author: Petranel Theresa Ferrao
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Total Pages: 79
Release: 2015-09-17
Genre: Cancer
ISBN: 2889196623

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The process of Epithelial-Mesenchymal-Transition (EMT) is known to result in a phenotype change in cells from a proliferative state to a more invasive state. EMT has been reported to drive the metastatic spread of various cancers and has also been associated with drug resistance to cytotoxics and targeted therapeutics. Recently phenotype switching akin to EMT has been reported in non-epithelial cancers such as metastatic melanoma. This process involves changes in EMT-Transcription Factors (EMT-TFs), suggesting that phenotype-switching may be common to several tumour types. It remains unclear as to whether the presence of both Epilthelial-like and Mesenchymal-like cells are a pre-requisite for phenotype switching within a tumour, how this heterogeneity is regulated, and if alteration of cell phenotype is sufficient to mediate migratory changes, or whether drivers of cell migration result in an associated phenotype switch in cancer cells. Similarly it has yet to be clarified if cells in an altered phenotype can be refractory to drug therapy or whether mediators of drug resistance induce a concurrent phenotypic change. Little is known today about the underlying genetic, epigenetic and transient changes that accompany this phenotypic switch and about the role for the tumor micro-environment in influencing it. Hence this is currently an area of speculation and keen interest in the Oncology field with wide-ranging translational implications. In this Frontiers Research Topic, we discuss our current understanding of these concepts in various cancer types including breast cancer, colorectal cancer and metastatic melanoma. This topic covers how these processes of cellular and phenotypic plasticity are regulated and how they relate to cancer initiation, progression, dormancy, metastases and response to cytotoxics or targeted therapies.

Epithelial-Mesenchymal Plasticity in Cancer Metastasis

Epithelial-Mesenchymal Plasticity in Cancer Metastasis
Author: Mohit Kumar Jolly
Publisher: MDPI
Total Pages: 512
Release: 2020-12-29
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 3039367242

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Recent studies have highlighted that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is not only about cell migration and invasion, but it can also govern many other important elements such as immunosuppression, metabolic reprogramming, senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), stem cell properties, therapy resistance, and tumor microenvironment interactions. With the on-going debate about the requirement of EMT for cancer metastasis, an emerging focus on intermediate states of EMT and its reverse process mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) offer new ideas for metastatic requirements and the dynamics of EMT/MET during the entire metastatic cascade. Therefore, we would like to initiate discussions on viewing EMT and its downstream signaling networks as a fulcrum of cellular plasticity, and a facilitator of the adaptive responses of cancer cells to distant organ microenvironments and various therapeutic assaults. We hereby invite scientists who have prominently contributed to this field, and whose valuable insights have led to the appreciation of epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity as a more comprehensive mediator of the adaptive response of cancer cells, with huge implications in metastasis, drug resistance, tumor relapse, and patient survival.

Metabolic Plasticity of Cancer

Metabolic Plasticity of Cancer
Author: Tuuli Käämbre
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2020-12-24
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 2889662764

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This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact.

Phenotype Plasticity and Populations' Dynamics

Phenotype Plasticity and Populations' Dynamics
Author: Marie André-Ratsimbazafy
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre:
ISBN:

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It is commonly accepted that tumors arise from cells that escape the homeostatic controls which underlie the healthy histological structure and that cell phenotype is not the result of deterministic biochemical and genetic processes, but rather the stochastic and dynamic outcome of multiple intra- and intercellular regulation networks. This PhD aims to quantitatively study the phenotypic homeostasis of the cell populations and to present an approach to the fundamental question, never heretofore studied, regarding the autonomy versus collective control of cell fate. We studied in the long run, using flow cytometry and in 2D and 3D conditions, the level of expression of CD24 and CD44 of two breast cancer cell lines (SUM149-PT and SUM159-PT). Three phenotypes were isolated (CD24-/CD44+, CD24+/CD44+, CD24-/CD44-), the latter had not previously been documented in the literature. The phenotypic behavior of CD44-low and CD44-high subpopulations has been characterized by assessing their proportion and analyzing the fluorescence map. Thereby, we observed both a periodic behavior of appearance and disappearance of pool of cells characteristics of each cell lines and a phenotypic re-diversification for each subpopulation. Only the resulting population derived from CD24-/CD44- provided the same balance as the original unsorted population. 3D re-diversification process was observed in tumorspheres from CD24-/CD44+ and CD24+/CD44+. The cells CD24-/CD44did not have that potential but nonetheless outlived anoikis. These behaviors suggest that there is an inter-cell coordination regulating the balance of phenotypic proportions. To discover the social rules regulating inter-phenotypic spatial organization, we have set up a reporter of the endogenous variations of CD24 and CD44 and developed a theoretical model of cell interactions. This work has confirmed our hypothesis that inter-cellular social rules are determining the phenotypic expression at both the uni- and multicellular scales.

Impact of Cancer Plasticity on Drug Resistance and Treatment in Solid Tumors

Impact of Cancer Plasticity on Drug Resistance and Treatment in Solid Tumors
Author: Dong-Hua Yang
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2020-12-24
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 2889662756

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This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact.

Cancer Plasticity and the Microenvironment: Implications for Immunity and Therapy Response

Cancer Plasticity and the Microenvironment: Implications for Immunity and Therapy Response
Author: Petranel T. Ferrao
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2019-11-01
Genre:
ISBN: 288963115X

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Cancer cells can change and adapt, especially within the host environment; a phenomenon known as cancer plasticity. Several factors, including the immune system can influence, and be influenced by, cancer plasticity which in turn can impact upon patient responses to treatment. As such, we currently face several challenges for implementing combination therapies as effective cancer treatment strategies. We have compiled a topic with a number of articles that emphasize the various aspects of cancer plasticity, describing in particular the important role of the tumor microenvironment. As we embark on a new era of precision medicine with multi-modal therapies for improving patient outcomes, this topic highlights some relevant points for consideration that are pertinent to the incorporation and effective use of new treatments as part of cancer treatment regimens, including immune-modulating drugs.

Philosophy of Cancer

Philosophy of Cancer
Author: Marta Bertolaso
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2016-08-24
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9402408657

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Since the 1970s, the origin of cancer is being explored from the point of view of the Somatic Mutation Theory (SMT), focusing on genetic mutations and clonal expansion of somatic cells. As cancer research expanded in several directions, the dominant focus on cells remained steady, but the classes of genes and the kinds of extra-genetic factors that were shown to have causal relevance in the onset of cancer multiplied. The wild heterogeneity of cancer-related mutations and phenotypes, along with the increasing complication of models, led to an oscillation between the hectic search of ‘the’ few key factors that cause cancer and the discouragement in face of a seeming ‘endless complexity’. To tame this complexity, cancer research started to avail itself of the tools that were being developed by Systems Biology. At the same time, anti-reductionist voices began claiming that cancer research was stuck in a sterile research paradigm. This alternative discourse even gave birth to an alternative theory: the Tissue Organization Field Theory (TOFT). A deeper philosophical analysis shows limits and possibilities of reductionist and anti-reductionist positions and of their polarization. This book demonstrates that a radical philosophical reflection is necessary to drive cancer research out of its impasses. At the very least, this will be a reflection on the assumptions of different kinds of cancer research, on the implications of what cancer research has been discovering over 40 years and more, on a view of scientific practice that is most able to make sense of the cognitive and social conflicts that are seen in the scientific community (and in its results), and, finally, on the nature of living entities with which we entertain this fascinating epistemological dance that we call scientific research. The proposed Dynamic and Relational View of carcinogenesis is a starting point in all these directions.