Authors: Bustuoabad, Oscar D.¹; Ruggiero, Raúl A.¹; di Gianni, Pedro²; Lombardi, M. Gabriela²; Belli, Carolina²; Camerano, Gabriela V.²; Dran, Graciela²; Schere-Levy, Carolina²; Costa, Héctor²; Isturiz, Martín A.²; Narvaitz, Marina²; van Rooijen, Nico³; Bustuoabad, Victoria de los A.²; Meiss, Roberto P.⁴

Source: Oncology Research Featuring Preclinical and Clinical Cancer Therapeutics, Volume 15, Number 3, 2005 , pp. 169-182(14)

Publisher: Cognizant Communication Corporation

Abstract:

A small primary or secondary tumor load can occasionally induce more deleterious effects than a histologically identical larger one. In the four murine models studied herein this enhanced tumor aggressiveness could not be attributed to NRAS mutations or other hereditary changes, differential vascularization of live tumor tissues, or necrosis content. Instead, the main tumor feature associated with a more aggressive behavior was the presence of a high number of vessels, sometimes filled with inflammatory cells, inside a tumor area, which we have identified and designated as the transition zone between the live and the necrotic zones. Our experiments suggest that during tumor growth, different cachectic factors are produced within the transition and necrotic zones by dying tumor cells and by tumor infiltrating macrophages only reaching the general circulation through the vessels present in the transition zone. Therefore, a small tumor displaying high vascularization of its transition area could be harmful to its host, while, in contrast, a large tumor could behave as a relatively benign one if its transition zone exhibited little or no vascularization, and in consequence its cachectic factors remained “trapped.” Similar histological images to those observed in mice were seen in a significant percentage of human cancer biopsies, raising the possibility that such images might have a prognostic value.

Keywords: Tumor transition zone; Vascularization; Inflammation; Tumor aggressiveness

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: *División Medicina Experimental, Instituto de Investigaciones Hematológicas, Academia Nacional de Medicina, Pacheco de Melo 3081, 1425 Buenos Aires, Argentina 2: División Medicina Experimental, Instituto de Investigaciones Hematológicas, Academia Nacional de Medicina, Pacheco de Melo 3081, 1425 Buenos Aires, Argentina 3: Department of Cell Biology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 4: Departamento de Patología, Centro de Estudios Oncológicos, Academia Nacional de Medicina, Pacheco de Melo 3081, 1425 Buenos Aires, Argentina

Publication date: 2005-03-01

More about this publication?

• Formerly: Oncology Research Incorporating Anti-Cancer Drug Design
  Oncology Research Featuring Preclinical and Clincal Cancer Therapeutics publishes research of the highest quality that contributes to an understanding of cancer in areas of molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics, genetics, biology, endocrinology, and immunology, as well as studies on the mechanism of action of carcinogens and therapeutic agents, reports dealing with cancer prevention and epidemiology, and clinical trials delineating effective new therapeutic regimens.

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• By this author: Bustuoabad, Oscar D. ;  Ruggiero, Raúl A. ;  di Gianni, Pedro ;  Lombardi, M. Gabriela ;  Belli, Carolina ;  Camerano, Gabriela V. ;  Dran, Graciela ;  Schere-Levy, Carolina ;  Costa, Héctor ;  Isturiz, Martín A. ;  Narvaitz, Marina ;  van Rooijen, Nico ;  Bustuoabad, Victoria de los A. ;  Meiss, Roberto P.

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