Models, mechanisms and clinical evidence for cancer dormancy

JA Aguirre-Ghiso - Nature Reviews Cancer, 2007 - nature.com
Nature Reviews Cancer, 2007nature.com
Patients with cancer can develop recurrent metastatic disease with latency periods that
range from years even to decades. This pause can be explained by cancer dormancy, a
stage in cancer progression in which residual disease is present but remains asymptomatic.
Cancer dormancy is poorly understood, resulting in major shortcomings in our
understanding of the full complexity of the disease. Here, I review experimental and clinical
evidence that supports the existence of various mechanisms of cancer dormancy including …
Abstract
Patients with cancer can develop recurrent metastatic disease with latency periods that range from years even to decades. This pause can be explained by cancer dormancy, a stage in cancer progression in which residual disease is present but remains asymptomatic. Cancer dormancy is poorly understood, resulting in major shortcomings in our understanding of the full complexity of the disease. Here, I review experimental and clinical evidence that supports the existence of various mechanisms of cancer dormancy including angiogenic dormancy, cellular dormancy (G0–G1 arrest) and immunosurveillance. The advances in this field provide an emerging picture of how cancer dormancy can ensue and how it could be therapeutically targeted.
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