New Insight in TME-Cancer Cells Crosstalk: The Impact of Gender on Cancer Progression and Response to Therapy

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Tumor Microenvironment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 12233

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Experimental Pathology and Oncology Section of the Department of Experimental and Clinical Biomedical Sciences, University of Florence, Viale GB Morgagni 50, 50134 Firenze, Italy
Interests: tumor microenvironment (TME); cancer cell biology; extracellular acidity; nanomedicine; targeted drug delivery and personalized anticancer therapy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The tumor microenvironment (TME) is the result of a complex gathering of different types of cells including not only cancer cells but also fibroblasts, macrophages, endothelial cells, and cells of the immune system. The complexity of TME is additionally exacerbated by its special extracellular milieu, characterized by areas of extracellular acidity and hypoxia, whether or not they overlap. The effort spent to unravel the role of the crosstalk between TME and malignant cells highlights that cancer cell metabolic reprogramming has a fundamental role in cancer progression and drug resistance. Despite this, there is still something missing in the scenario. Indeed, epidemiological studies have long reported differences in the incidence and severity of different types of cancers between the sexes.

This Special Issue of Cancers will give the opportunity to investigate and discuss the impact that sex-specific or gender-specific molecular mechanisms may exert on TME–cancer cells crosstalk in cancer progression and drug resistance to develop a more specific anticancer personalized therapy. 

Dr. Francesca Bianchini
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • tumor microenvironment
  • cancer cells
  • gender
  • sex hormones
  • extracellular acidity
  • hypoxia
  • metabolic reprogramming
  • innate immunity
  • immune checkpoints inhibitors
  • drug resistance
  • novel therapeutic approaches

Published Papers (3 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

19 pages, 3006 KiB  
Article
Spontaneous Physical Activity in Obese Condition Favours Antitumour Immunity Leading to Decreased Tumour Growth in a Syngeneic Mouse Model of Carcinogenesis
by Delphine Le Guennec, Marie Goepp, Marie-Chantal Farges, Stéphanie Rougé, Marie-Paule Vasson, Florence Caldefie-Chezet and Adrien Rossary
Cancers 2022, 14(1), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14010059 - 23 Dec 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2401
Abstract
Our goal was to evaluate the effect of spontaneous physical activity on tumour immunity during aging. Elderly (n = 10/group, 33 weeks) ovariectomized C57BL/6J mice fed a hyperlipidic diet were housed in standard (SE) or enriched (EE) environments. After 4 weeks, orthotopic [...] Read more.
Our goal was to evaluate the effect of spontaneous physical activity on tumour immunity during aging. Elderly (n = 10/group, 33 weeks) ovariectomized C57BL/6J mice fed a hyperlipidic diet were housed in standard (SE) or enriched (EE) environments. After 4 weeks, orthotopic implantation of syngeneic mammary cancer EO771 cells was performed to explore the immune phenotyping in the immune organs and the tumours, as well as the cytokines in the tumour and the plasma. EE lowered circulating myostatin, IL-6 and slowed down tumour growth. Spleen and inguinal lymph node weights reduced in relation to SE. Within the tumours, EE induced a lower content of lymphoid cells with a decrease in Th2, Treg and MDCS; and, conversely, a greater quantity of Tc and TAMs. While no change in tumour NKs cells occurred, granzyme A and B expression increased as did that of perforin 1. Spontaneous physical activity in obese conditions slowed tumour growth by decreasing low-grade inflammation, modulating immune recruitment and efficacy within the tumour. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

23 pages, 1527 KiB  
Review
Sex and Gender Differences in Kidney Cancer: Clinical and Experimental Evidence
by Anna Julie Peired, Riccardo Campi, Maria Lucia Angelotti, Giulia Antonelli, Carolina Conte, Elena Lazzeri, Francesca Becherucci, Linda Calistri, Sergio Serni and Paola Romagnani
Cancers 2021, 13(18), 4588; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13184588 - 13 Sep 2021
Cited by 37 | Viewed by 5274
Abstract
Sex and gender disparities have been reported for different types of non-reproductive cancers. Males are two times more likely to develop kidney cancer than females and have a higher death rate. These differences can be explained by looking at genetics and genomics, as [...] Read more.
Sex and gender disparities have been reported for different types of non-reproductive cancers. Males are two times more likely to develop kidney cancer than females and have a higher death rate. These differences can be explained by looking at genetics and genomics, as well as other risk factors such as hypertension and obesity, lifestyle, and female sex hormones. Examination of the hormonal signaling pathways bring further insights into sex-related differences. Sex and gender-based disparities can be observed at the diagnostic, histological and treatment levels, leading to significant outcome difference. This review summarizes the current knowledge about sex and gender-related differences in the clinical presentation of patients with kidney cancer and the possible biological mechanisms that could explain these observations. Underlying sex-based differences may contribute to the development of sex-specific prognostic and diagnostic tools and the improvement of personalized therapies. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 1440 KiB  
Review
The Sex-Related Interplay between TME and Cancer: On the Critical Role of Estrogen, MicroRNAs and Autophagy
by Paola Matarrese, Gianfranco Mattia, Maria Teresa Pagano, Giada Pontecorvi, Elena Ortona, Walter Malorni and Alessandra Carè
Cancers 2021, 13(13), 3287; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13133287 - 30 Jun 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3546
Abstract
The interplay between cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment (TME) has a fundamental role in tumor progression and response to therapy. The plethora of components constituting the TME, such as stroma, fibroblasts, endothelial and immune cells, as well as macromolecules, e.g., hormones and [...] Read more.
The interplay between cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment (TME) has a fundamental role in tumor progression and response to therapy. The plethora of components constituting the TME, such as stroma, fibroblasts, endothelial and immune cells, as well as macromolecules, e.g., hormones and cytokines, and epigenetic factors, such as microRNAs, can modulate the survival or death of cancer cells. Actually, the TME can stimulate the genetically regulated programs that the cell puts in place under stress: apoptosis or, of interest here, autophagy. However, the implication of autophagy in tumor growth appears still undefined. Autophagy mainly represents a cyto-protective mechanism that allows cell survival but, in certain circumstances, also leads to the blocking of cell cycle progression, possibly leading to cell death. Since significant sex/gender differences in the incidence, progression and response to cancer therapy have been widely described in the literature, in this review, we analyzed the roles played by key components of the TME, e.g., estrogen and microRNAs, on autophagy regulation from a sex/gender-based perspective. We focused our attention on four paradigmatic and different forms of cancers—colon cancer, melanoma, lymphoma, and lung cancer—concluding that sex-specific differences may exert a significant impact on TME/cancer interaction and, thus, tumor growth. Full article
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Back to TopTop