Malignant sweat gland tumors are rare cutaneous neoplasms and associated with poor prognosis. The process of tumorigenesis originating from sweat glands is complex and dynamic. The tumor is surrounded by an extracellular matrix (ECM) and stromal cells, as well as physiological state from the tumor microenvironment (TME). Various types of evidence suggest a variety of vital components of TME that interact with each other, ranging from fibroblasts, immune and inflammatory cells, vascular and lymphatic networks, and ECM. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of sweat gland tumor microenvironment based on current studies of TME and describes the function of each component of TME in cancer initiation, progression, and invasion.
Keywords: Angiogenesis; Apocrine; Cancer progression; Chronic inflammation; Eccrine; Extracellular matrix; Immune suppression; Lymphangiogenesis; MMPs; Metastasis; Mutation; Sweat gland tumor; Tumor microenvironment; Tumor-associated macrophages; Tumorigenesis.