Cancer Dormancy : a Model of Early Dissemination and Late Cancer Recurrence
Cet article passe en revue les travaux récents sur les voies de signalisation impliquées dans la régulation de la dormance tumorale
Cancer dormancy is a stage in tumor progression in which residual disease remains occult and asymptomatic for a prolonged period of time. Dormant tumor cells can be present as one of the earliest stages in tumor development, as well as a stage in micro-metastases, and/or minimal residual disease left after an apparently successful treatment of the primary tumor. The general mechanisms that regulate the transition of disseminated tumor cells that lay dormant into a proliferative state remain largely unknown, but the regulation of the growth from dormant tumor cells may be explained in part through the interaction of the tumor cell with its microenvironment, the limitations in blood supply or an active immune system. Understanding the regulatory machinery of these processes will be essential in identifying early cancer biomarkers and could provide a rationale for the development of novel agents for targeting dormant tumor cells. This review focuses on the different signaling models responsible for early cancer dissemination and tumor recurrence that are involved in dormancy pathways.