title: The hypoxia-related signaling pathways of vasculogenic mimicry in tumor treatment.
abstract: Tumors require a blood supply for survival, growth, and metastasis. It is widely accepted that the development of the tumor microcirculation compartment need the production of new blood vessels (angiogenesis). Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) is an alternative type of blood supplement independent of endothelial vessels which refers to the formation of tumor cell-lined vessels and is associated with tumor invasion, metastasis and poor cancer patient prognosis. Although a variety of proteins and microenvironmental factors are known to contribute to VM, the mechanisms underlying its formation remain unclear. The induction of VM seems to be related to hypoxia, which may promote the plastic, transendothelial phenotype of tumor cells capable of VM. Here, with regard to the above aspects, we review the advanced research on VM including molecular mechanisms and its clinical significance; and explore the development of VM-related strategies which are being utilized for anticancer treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Shuixian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Pharmaceutical Preparation Section, Hospital of Laiwu Steel Group, Laiwu 271126, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Ziwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Yuanling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, 44 West Wenhua Road, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China. Electronic address: xzyhan@sdu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiuzhen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D006801:Humans; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000473:pathology*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D015398:Signal Transduction
keywords: HIF-1a; Hypoxia; Signaling pathway; Tumor treatment; Vasculogenic mimicry