Role of Stromal Cells in Tumor Metastases

摘要

Metastatic dissemination is the leading cause of cancer death. Each year in the United States more than 500,000 people die principally as a result of the metastatic spread of cancer. This project aims to revisit the century old 'seed and soil' hypothesis and suggests a new paradigm for the role of stromal cells in metastasis. It is commonly accepted that only cancer cells travel from primary to metastatic sites. I hypothesize that, together with cancer cells, stromal cells of the primary tumor travel to the secondary site and provide provisional stroma until the metastatic cells recruit new stroma in the secondary organ. In this report we show that host-derived cells can escape primary tumors along with cancer cells, survive in blood circulation, and multiply in metastatic nodules. Pre-existence of a tissue-like structure in the form of heterotypic cell fragments may increase the viability of cancer cells in blood circulation and at the secondary site. Immunohistochemical analysis suggests that host-derived cells found at the metastatic site are myofibroblasts.