Abstract
Metastasis, the leading cause of cancer deaths, is an intricate process involving many important tumor and stromal proteins that have yet to be fully defined. This review discusses critical components necessary for the metastatic cascade, including hypoxia, inflammation, and the tumor microenvironment. More specifically, this review focuses on tumor cell and stroma interactions, which allow cell detachment from a primary tumor, intravasation to the blood stream, and extravasation at a distant site where cells can seed and tumor metastases can form. Central players involved in this process and discussed in this review include integrins, matrix metalloproteinases, and soluble growth factors/matrix proteins, including the connective tissue growth factor and lysyl oxidase.
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Acknowledgments
Due to the broad scope of this review, we apologize to anyone we failed to cite. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (RO1 CA-116685, PO1 CA-67166, and T32 CA121940 to E.C.F and to A.J.G.).
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Finger, E.C., Giaccia, A.J. Hypoxia, inflammation, and the tumor microenvironment in metastatic disease. Cancer Metastasis Rev 29, 285–293 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10555-010-9224-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10555-010-9224-5