Les Metàstasis o la clau per vèncer el càncer

Authors

  • Roger R. Gomis

Abstract

In the past decades, there has been a constant increase in cancer incidence worldwide. Among those patients, 20% of them will develop metastatic forms of the disease, which in solid tumors will eventually cause patients death. To this end, the identification and implementation of more effective therapies to tackle this problem has become a priority. The metastasis process is a multistep process based on a series of dynamic interactions between tumor cells a nd their environment, allowing them to exit the primary malignant site and develop a distant lesion. The metastatic process occurs in a non-lineal fashion, is not passive and relies on several constant systems, including feedback-loops between tumor cells and the tumor host microenvironment cells. Among the remaining questions in the field, a better understanding of the therapeutic window opportunities and the genes and signaling pathways relevant for the metastatic process and how we can interfere with them in the clinical context in the absence of reliable predictive biomarkers are pending. In summary, new solutions are needed to address the challenges that arise in a field that is clearly in expansion.

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Published

2014-02-26