Recent Advances in Colorectal Cancer Research: The Microenvironment Impact

MicroRNA expression in colorectal cancer

“…The mechanism underpinning this dysregulation is not yet understood, however researchers have proposed that DNA hypermethylation may result in down-regulation of specific microRNAs. Histone acetylation and enzymatic mechanisms that influence microRNA processing have also been implicated [35]. Although the full extent of the human microRNA-ome has yet to be elucidated and although the mechanism of dysregulation of microRNAs in colon cancer remains largely unknown, a growing body of evidence supports the theory that specific microRNA expression patterns are associated with colorectal cancer.…”

“…This dynamic crosstalk characterised by a bidirectional relationship between stromal and epithelial cells, impacts heavily on core tumour characteristics including degree of hypoxia, angiogen-esis and inflammation [17,35]. These characteristics directly impact on prognosis and the level of angiogenesis has been reported as a survival predictor for patients with colorectal cancer [11,20].…”

“…Recent studies have implicated microRNAs in regulating hypoxia and interacting with inflammatory factors such as VEGF in the tumour microenvironment [35]. It has been proposed that the regulation of angiogenesis in colorectal tumours involves an interplay between anti-angiogenic microRNAs (miR-20a and mir-221) and pro-angiogenic microRNAs (let-7f and mir-126) [16,22,35].…”

Resveratrol induces chemosensitization to 5-fluorouracil through up-regulation of intercellular junctions, Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and apoptosis in colorectal cancer

“…There is a tremendous clinical interest in improving therapeutic management of primary CRC, as well as advanced, metastatic cancers after surgery or chemotherapy, since ~50% of cases develop chemoresistance to standard of care chemotherapeutic drugs such as 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) [1,2]. Metastasis of tumor cells presents a malignant event that leads to spreading of cancer cells to other tissues, and often results in increased mortality [3].…”

Three-Dimensional Spatiotemporal Modeling of Colon Cancer Organoids Reveals that Multimodal Control of Stem Cell Self-Renewal is a Critical Determinant of Size and Shape in Early Stages of Tumor Growth

“…Recent studies reveal that the microenvironment plays an important role in cancer metastasis. While the path from the primary tumor to the secondary site is mostly destructive for circulating tumor cells (e.g., mechanical stresses, immuno-surveillance), several molecular events enable cancer cells to overcome these obstacles and generate metastasis (Pin et al 2011). For example, as colon cancer metastasizes to the liver, continuous cross talk between liver cells (e.g., hepatocyte-derived ECM) and invading colon cancer cells stimulates cancer cell proliferation by inducing autocrine growth factors and their receptors (Gout and Huot 2008).…”