title: Accessories to the crime: functions of cells recruited to the tumor microenvironment.
abstract: Mutationally corrupted cancer (stem) cells are the driving force of tumor development and progression. Yet, these transformed cells cannot do it alone. Assemblages of ostensibly normal tissue and bone marrow-derived (stromal) cells are recruited to constitute tumorigenic microenvironments. Most of the hallmarks of cancer are enabled and sustained to varying degrees through contributions from repertoires of stromal cell types and distinctive subcell types. Their contributory functions to hallmark capabilities are increasingly well understood, as are the reciprocal communications with neoplastic cancer cells that mediate their recruitment, activation, programming, and persistence. This enhanced understanding presents interesting new targets for anticancer therapy.
authors.affiliation: The Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research, School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. douglas.hanahan@epfl.ch
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hanahan
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Coussens
mesh_terms: D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment