| Popis: |
Tumor dormancy is a well known and much studied feature of certain cancers such as breast and prostate cancer, whereas in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) it has not been studied extensively to date. Clinical data have, however, shown that cancer dormancy can also occur in NSCLC, albeit this is only observed in a fairly small subset of NSCLC patients. In this chapter, we summarize the current knowledge about the characteristics and clinical implications of dormant tumor cells in NSCLC. We focus on genetic determinants of NSCLC dissemination and describe the properties of micrometastatic NSCLC cells. Subsequently, we review the different biological features, like tumor-stroma interactions and immunosurveillance, which are known to have vital impact on tumor cell dormancy. Clearly, the ability of a dormant tumor cell to survive and be activated later on is a result of both the interaction with the stroma at the secondary site as well as somatic aberrations and hereditary/susceptibility factors of the dormant tumor cell. We discuss mainly genes and phenomena that have already been reported to be associated with tumor dormancy in other epithelial cancers and are associated with worse prognosis or increased metastatic capacity in NSCLC and thus may very likely play a role in dormancy control of NSCLC cells. Furthermore, we emphasize the few but pioneering experimental lung cancer dormancy models. Detailed and accurate knowledge of the biological characteristics and clinical relevance of dormancy in NSCLC remains limited and further studies are urgently needed to elucidate the underlying biological mechanisms in order to be able to assess the risk profile and to find the optimal treatment for each NSCLC patient. |
