Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về sinh học được đăng trên tạp chí sinh học Journal of Biology đề tài: Targeting TNF-α for cancer therapy. | Journal of Biology Minireview Targeting TNF-a for cancer therapy Elizabeth R Burton and Steven K Libuttit Addresses Division of Gynecologic Oncology Montefiore Medical Park 1695 Eastchester Road Bronx NY 10461 USA. tMontefiore Medical Center Medical Arts Pavilion 3400 Bainbridge Avenue MMC-MAP Bronx NY 10467 USA. Correspondence Steven K Libutti. Email slibutti@ Abstract As the tumor vasculature is a key element of the tumor stroma angiogenesis is the target of many cancer therapies. Recent work published in BMC Cell Biology describes a fusion protein that combines a peptide previously shown to home in on the gastric cancer vasculature with the anti-tumor cytokine TNF-a and assesses its potential for gastric cancer therapy. The microenvironment of any solid tumor is composed not only of the cancer cells themselves but also of the surrounding stromal tissue - composed of fibroblasts endothelial cells and pericytes of capillary walls smooth muscle and immune and inflammatory cells Figure 1 . This elaborate infrastructure is instrumental in the growth invasion and metastasis of a cancer. Stephen Paget in 1889 was the first to suggest that the tumor microenvironment might influence tumor cell behavior with his seed and soil hypothesis. He reported that like seeds tumor cells randomly scattered throughout the vasculature could only metastasize if they landed in fertile soil 1 . More recently normal stroma has been shown to inhibit tumor growth whereas tumor stroma encourages it. In a study in which simian virus 40 SV40 -transformed normal prostate epithelial cells were grafted into mice it was found that cancer-associated fibroblasts CAFs supported the tumor cells. Normal prostate cells combined with CAFs began to take on the characteristics of carcinogenic prostate cells whereas normal prostate cells combined with fibroblasts from normal tissue did not. Likewise prostate cells immortalized by SV40 transformation grew massive tumors when combined with CAFs
