Implications for Tumor Microenvironment and Epithelial Crosstalk in the Management of Gastrointestinal Cancers

Yang Ge; C Benedikt Westphalen; Wen Wee Ma; Kenneth J Vega; Nathaniel Weygant

doi:10.1155/2019/4835318

Implications for Tumor Microenvironment and Epithelial Crosstalk in the Management of Gastrointestinal Cancers

J Oncol. 2019 Oct 31:2019:4835318. doi: 10.1155/2019/4835318. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Yang Ge¹, C Benedikt Westphalen², Wen Wee Ma³, Kenneth J Vega⁴, Nathaniel Weygant^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Dept of Oncology, Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, Capital Medical Univ., Beijing, China.
² Dept of Oncology, Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
³ Dept of Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁴ Dept of Gastroenterology, Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA.
⁵ Academy of Integrative Medicine, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, China.
⁶ Fujian Key Laboratory of Integrative Medicine in Geriatrics, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, China.

Abstract

Rapid advances in technology are revealing previously unknown organization, cooperation, and limitations within the population of nontumor cells surrounding the tumor epithelium known as the tumor microenvironment (TME). Nowhere are these findings more pertinent than in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract where exquisite cell specialization supports a complex microenvironmental niche characterized by rapid stemness-associated cell turnover, pathogen sensing, epithelial orchestration of immune signaling, and other facets that maintain the complex balance between homeostasis, inflammation, and disease. Here, we summarize and discuss select emerging concepts in the precancerous microenvironment, TME, and tumor epithelial-TME crosstalk as well as their implications for the management of GI cancers.

Publication types

Review