The role of acidic microenvironment in the tumor aggressive phenotypes and the treatment

摘要

Recently,the scammer who advocated"acid constitution"as the source of all diseases was fined 105 million US dollars,and the"acid-base balance"theory he founded was also criticized.Although the"acid constitution"of the human body is full of pseudoscience,many tumors are indeed"acid constitution".Increased glycolysis,hypoxia,and insufficient tissue perfusion as well as a large amount of acid and metabolite metabolites that accumulated in the tumor microenvironment,making the tumor microenvironment acidic[1–3].Microenvironment acidification plays an important role in tumor progression and can provide a favorable environment for tumor cell generation[4].Acidosis is one of the basic characteristics of tumor microenvironment.Unlike normal cells,cancer cells can adapt to a low pH environment by increasing glycolysis,while activating the activity and expression of proton transporters that normalize the pH in the cell[1–4].Acidosis-driven adaptation also triggers the emergence of aggressive tumor cells in subpopulations that exhibit increased invasion,proliferation,and resistance[5].Acidosis can also promote immune escape and thus maintain tumor growth[6,7].