A Tale of 2 Tumor Environments (IMAGE)
Caption
Mikala Egeblad's team showed in mice that the progression of different types of breast cancer was influenced differently by the tissue -- the so-called tumor microenvironment -- in which the tumor is embedded. The tumor microenvironment contains many factors, including immune cells and blood vessels, that communicate with cancer cells and can promote tumor growth. On the left, a breast cancer type called luminal; on the right, a type called triple-negative/basal. The luminal microenvironment has less fibrosis (scar tissue, colored purple) and contains few inflammatory cells embedded within these fibrotic areas or in the surrounding fatty tissue (white). The triple-negative microenvironment contains more inflammatory cells and more fibrosis. Targeting a protein called MMP9, which promotes cancer and is linked with poor prognosis, slowed the course of the triple-negative/basal breast cancer, the one with the more profoundly altered microenvironment, but had no impact on the luminal cancer.
Credit
Egeblad Lab, CSHL
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