Regulation and Transitions of Tumor Initiating Cells and Their Microenvironment in Breast Cancer
A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Tumor Microenvironment".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 6868
Special Issue Editor
Interests: gene regulation; signal transduction; innate immunity; malignant disease; acute leukemia
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Breast cancer has been, and remains, the leading example of a malignant disease associated with tumor-initiating cells. Recent years have witnessed the discovery of interesting features of breast cancer stem cells. These features include their interactions with stromal cells, their effects on the immune system, and the role of their phenotype transitions in metastasis.
Furthermore, research increasingly suggests a connection between signaling pathways activated in stem cells during developmental processes of the breast gland, and the signaling pathways that operate in breast tumor-initiating cells. Key differences between normal and malignant stem cells exist and include factors that regulate inflammatory cascades. Mutations and microenvironmental cues act as a driving force toward breast cancer stem cell fate. Heterogeneity and metabolic plasticity make epithelial cancer notoriously unpredictable.
Several important questions remain open: what is the relative contribution of each factor in metastasis, and are all the characterized mediators essential in the process?
How many important phenotypic intermediates remain unknown? To what extent is current research capable of mirroring the phenomena that occur during breast cancer progression? Do we have an accurate picture of cellular heterogeneity, and how could we devise new models to describe in vivo cancer development with more precision? How can the identification of breast cancer stem cell phenotypes help us to get closer to personalized treatment?
Additionally, although breast cancer has been the primary field of stem cell research, which part of the progress made in the study of other malignant diseases can be applied in breast cancer?
How can the results of breast cancer research be translated into treatments more accurately?
Finally, to what extent and depth can the momentum gained from the COVID-19 mobilization help to also propel and advance the field of cancer research, despite the heterogeneity that characterizes malignant disease? We have certainly witnessed the difficulty in accurately describing fundamental processes in disease progression and, nevertheless, the tremendous impact of the active involvement of the scientific community that bore fruit in a period of great challenges.
Dr. Spiros Vlahopoulos
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- adenocarcinoma
- breast cancer
- cancer stem cell
- epithelial–mesenchymal transition
- mesenchymal–epithelial transition
- phenotypic transitions
- chromatin modifications
- epigenetic regulation
- tissue microenvironment
- genome maintenance
