Cancer evolution: A means by which tumors evade treatment

Xiao Zhu; Shi Li; Bairui Xu; Hui Luo

doi:10.1016/j.biopha.2020.111016

Cancer evolution: A means by which tumors evade treatment

Biomed Pharmacother. 2021 Jan:133:111016. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2020.111016. Epub 2020 Nov 24.

Authors

Xiao Zhu¹, Shi Li², Bairui Xu³, Hui Luo⁴

Affiliations

¹ Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhanjiang), Zhanjiang, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory for Research and Development of Natural Drugs, The Marine Biomedical Research Institute, Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, China. Electronic address: xzhu@gdmu.edu.cn.
² Guangdong Key Laboratory of Urogenital Tumor Systems and Synthetic Biology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, The Second People's Hospital of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Genitourinary Tumor, Translational Medicine Institute of Shenzhen, The Second People's Hospital of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China; College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China.
³ The Key Lab of Zhanjiang for R&D Marine Microbial Resources in the Beibu Gulf Rim, Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, China; The Marine Biomedical Research Institute of Guangdong Zhanjiang, Zhanjian, China.
⁴ Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhanjiang), Zhanjiang, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory for Research and Development of Natural Drugs, The Marine Biomedical Research Institute, Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, China; The Key Lab of Zhanjiang for R&D Marine Microbial Resources in the Beibu Gulf Rim, Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, China; The Marine Biomedical Research Institute of Guangdong Zhanjiang, Zhanjian, China. Electronic address: luohui@gdmu.edu.cn.

PMID: 33246226
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2020.111016

Abstract

Although various methods have been tried to study and treat cancer, the cancer remains a major challenge for human medicine today. One important reason for this is the presence of cancer evolution. Cancer evolution is a process in which tumor cells adapt to the external environment, which can suppress the human immune system's ability to recognize and attack tumors, and also reduce the reproducibility of cancer research. Among them, heterogeneity of the tumor provides intrinsic motivation for this process. Recently, with the development of related technologies such as liquid biopsy, more and more knowledge about cancer evolution has been gained and interest in this topic has also increased. Therefore, starting from the causes of tumorigenesis, this paper introduces several tumorigenesis processes and pathways, as well as treatment options for different targets.

Keywords: Cancer evolution; Drug resistance; Evolution model; Key words; Oncotherapy; Tumor heterogeneity.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Biological Evolution*
Biological Variation, Population*
Drug Resistance, Neoplasm
Evolution, Molecular
Genetic Heterogeneity
Humans
Models, Biological*
Neoplasms / genetics
Neoplasms / immunology
Neoplasms / pathology*
Neoplasms / therapy
Tumor Escape
Tumor Microenvironment*