Volume imaging to interrogate cancer cell-tumor microenvironment interactions in space and time

Almagro, Jorge; Messal, Hendrik A.

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1176594

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 195 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Intercellular contacts are crucial for the existence of the organism, in particular, for the emergence and evolution of tumors. However, the complexity of interaction networks of cancer and host cells is still far from being well understood [49,50]. A fundamental analysis of the patterns of information exchange between cells was published in 2012 by Perrimon et al [51].…”

Section: Communication Between Cells Describes the Way A Cell Can Pro...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Untouched Reserve of Cancer Chemotherapy: Tumor Cell Communication as a Promising Supramolecular Target

Alekseenko,

Zhukova,

Kondratyeva

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

52 years have passed since President Nixon launched the "War on Cancer". The goals outlined by the President were not achieved because cancer treatment applied such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and targeted therapy have not fully met expectations. We suggest a new chemotherapeutic strategy: disrupting the communication between cancer cells and their microenvironment by chemical means. Immunological synapses that form between cancer cells and immune or other stromal cells provide an attractive target for this approach. Synapses form ligand-receptor clusters within interface of the interacting cells. Despite their differences, synapses share common properties: intercellular protein clusters; the proximity of these proteins; and their cooperative interaction making a synapse an unified functional unit. Synapses provide the limited space for the focused intercellular exchange of signaling molecules and particles. Therefore, destruction of synapses is expected to cause collapse of various tumor types. Additionally, the clustered arrangement of synapse components offers opportunities to increase treatment safety by reducing the concentration of cell impermeable agents used, to enhance its specificity applying cross-linking reagents, thus restricting modifications of surface-exposed molecules. By attaching a cleavable cell permeable toxic agent to a crosslinker should further enhance a killing potential in treating cancer. The proposed approach promises to be simple, universal, and less expensive than existing cancer therapy methods.

show abstract

Section: Communication Between Cells Describes the Way A Cell Can Pro...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Untouched Reserve of Cancer Chemotherapy: Tumor Cell Communication as a Promising Supramolecular Target

Alekseenko,

Zhukova,

Kondratyeva

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Tumors develop in an intricate interplay between cancer cells and their local tissue environment [ 84 ]. Mice are characterized by distinct differences in mammary gland architecture compared to humans [ 85 ].…”

Section: Murine Models In Hormone Receptor-positive Breast Cancer Res...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Rat Models of Hormone Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer

Nicotra,

Lutz,

Messal

et al. 2024

J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancer (BC) is the most common type of breast cancer among women worldwide, accounting for 70–80% of all invasive cases. Patients with HR+ BC are commonly treated with endocrine therapy, but intrinsic or acquired resistance is a frequent problem, making HR+ BC a focal point of intense research. Despite this, the malignancy still lacks adequate in vitro and in vivo models for the study of its initiation and progression as well as response and resistance to endocrine therapy. No mouse models that fully mimic the human disease are available, however rat mammary tumor models pose a promising alternative to overcome this limitation. Compared to mice, rats are more similar to humans in terms of mammary gland architecture, ductal origin of neoplastic lesions and hormone dependency status. Moreover, rats can develop spontaneous or induced mammary tumors that resemble human HR+ BC. To date, six different types of rat models of HR+ BC have been established. These include the spontaneous, carcinogen-induced, transplantation, hormone-induced, radiation-induced and genetically engineered rat mammary tumor models. Each model has distinct advantages, disadvantages and utility for studying HR+ BC. This review provides a comprehensive overview of all published models to date.

show abstract

Tumor Cell Communications as Promising Supramolecular Targets for Cancer Chemotherapy: A Possible Strategy

Alekseenko,

Zhukova,

Kondratyeva

et al. 2024

IJMS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fifty-two years have passed since President Nixon launched the “War on Cancer”. Despite unparalleled efforts and funds allocated worldwide, the outlined goals were not achieved because cancer treatment approaches such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormonal and targeted therapies have not fully met the expectations. Based on the recent literature, a new direction in cancer therapy can be proposed which targets connections between cancer cells and their microenvironment by chemical means. Cancer–stromal synapses such as immunological synapses between cancer and immune cells provide an attractive target for this approach. Such synapses form ligand–receptor clusters on the interface of the interacting cells. They share a common property of involving intercellular clusters of spatially proximate and cooperatively acting proteins. Synapses provide the space for the focused intercellular signaling molecules exchange. Thus, the disassembly of cancer–stromal synapses may potentially cause the collapse of various tumors. Additionally, the clustered arrangement of synapse components offers opportunities to enhance treatment safety and precision by using targeted crosslinking chemical agents which may inactivate cancer synapses even in reduced concentrations. Furthermore, attaching a cleavable cell-permeable toxic agent(s) to a crosslinker may further enhance the anti-cancer effect of such therapeutics. The highlighted approach promises to be universal, relatively simple and cost-efficient. We also hope that, unlike chemotherapeutic and immune drugs that interact with a single target, by using supramolecular large clusters that include many different components as a target, the emergence of a resistance characteristic of chemo- and immunotherapy is extremely unlikely.

show abstract

Volume imaging to interrogate cancer cell-tumor microenvironment interactions in space and time

Cited by 3 publications

References 195 publications

The Untouched Reserve of Cancer Chemotherapy: Tumor Cell Communication as a Promising Supramolecular Target

The Untouched Reserve of Cancer Chemotherapy: Tumor Cell Communication as a Promising Supramolecular Target

Rat Models of Hormone Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer

Tumor Cell Communications as Promising Supramolecular Targets for Cancer Chemotherapy: A Possible Strategy

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About