Gelao L, Criscitiello C, Fumagalli L, Locatelli M, Manunta S, Esposito A, Minchella I, Goldhirsch A, Curigliano G. Tumour dormancy and clinical implications in breast cancer.
Ecancermedicalscience 2013;
7:320. [PMID:
23717341 PMCID:
PMC3660156 DOI:
10.3332/ecancer.2013.320]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2013] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The aim of adjuvant therapy in breast cancer is to reduce the risk of recurrence. Some patients develop metastases many years after apparently successful treatment of their primary cancer. Tumour dormancy may explain the long time between initial diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and occurrence of relapse. The regulation of the switch from clinical dormancy to cancer regrowth in locoregional and distant sites is poorly understood. In this review, we report some data supporting the existence of various factors that may explain cancer dormancy including genetic and epigenetic changes, angiogenic switch, microenvironment, and immunosurveillance. A better definition and understanding of these factors should allow the identification of patients at high risk of relapse and to develop new therapeutic strategies in order to improve prognosis.
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