Breast cancer progression is a complex process controlled and coordinated by the crosstalk between tumor cells and the several components of the tumor microenvironment (TME) that carry out both pro- and anti-tumor activities in early and advanced settings, and play an active role in shaping the response to therapies.
Increasing research aims to explore and manipulate the non-cancerous components of the TME, including stromal cells, immune populations, adipocytes, but also underlying cytokine- and vesicle-based mechanisms of cell-to-cell communication, to predict clinical outcomes and improve breast cancer treatment. Growing understanding of breast TME has aided in the development of immunotherapy and other anti-cancer therapies that aim, not only to destroy cancer cells, but to reshape an anti-tumor immunity and boost the efficacy of chemotherapy.
As the TME is increasingly recognized as a source of treatment targets, its pathologic assessment has become a critical component of breast cancer management. Players in the TME arise as precious prognostic and predictive biomarkers helping clinicians to define the best therapeutic options based on the tumor and TME characteristics. Early identification of patients who are responders or non-responders to target therapies and novel immunotherapies requires a deep understanding of different actors populating the intratumoral and
the peritumoral stroma of breast carcinomas, such as TILs, TAMs and other inflammatory mediators, CAFs, immunosuppressive proteins, exosomes, and immunogenicity biomarkers, further supporting the need for more precise tools for personalized treatment planning.
Within this evolving scenario, this Research Topic serves to depict the current knowledge about the tumor and microenvironment interplay and the multiple implications that it has on the clinical management of breast cancer. We welcome original research, cutting-edge reviews, pre-clinical and clinical studies related but not limited to:
- Analysis and validation of data identifying new features of TME-breast cancer crosstalk;
- Research studies on clinically significant TME biomarkers for the early prediction of breast cancer outcome and response to therapy;
- Novel therapies and nanotherapies that tackle breast TME and can revert its immunosuppressive activity
- Advanced technologies to study breast cancer and to capture the heterogeneity of the tumor-TME system;
- Pre-clinical and clinical studies illustrating the impact of current and novel treatments on TME remodeling and immunity shaping in breast cancer
Please note: Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics, computational analysis, or predictions of public databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) will not be accepted in any of the sections of Frontiers in Oncology.
Breast cancer progression is a complex process controlled and coordinated by the crosstalk between tumor cells and the several components of the tumor microenvironment (TME) that carry out both pro- and anti-tumor activities in early and advanced settings, and play an active role in shaping the response to therapies.
Increasing research aims to explore and manipulate the non-cancerous components of the TME, including stromal cells, immune populations, adipocytes, but also underlying cytokine- and vesicle-based mechanisms of cell-to-cell communication, to predict clinical outcomes and improve breast cancer treatment. Growing understanding of breast TME has aided in the development of immunotherapy and other anti-cancer therapies that aim, not only to destroy cancer cells, but to reshape an anti-tumor immunity and boost the efficacy of chemotherapy.
As the TME is increasingly recognized as a source of treatment targets, its pathologic assessment has become a critical component of breast cancer management. Players in the TME arise as precious prognostic and predictive biomarkers helping clinicians to define the best therapeutic options based on the tumor and TME characteristics. Early identification of patients who are responders or non-responders to target therapies and novel immunotherapies requires a deep understanding of different actors populating the intratumoral and
the peritumoral stroma of breast carcinomas, such as TILs, TAMs and other inflammatory mediators, CAFs, immunosuppressive proteins, exosomes, and immunogenicity biomarkers, further supporting the need for more precise tools for personalized treatment planning.
Within this evolving scenario, this Research Topic serves to depict the current knowledge about the tumor and microenvironment interplay and the multiple implications that it has on the clinical management of breast cancer. We welcome original research, cutting-edge reviews, pre-clinical and clinical studies related but not limited to:
- Analysis and validation of data identifying new features of TME-breast cancer crosstalk;
- Research studies on clinically significant TME biomarkers for the early prediction of breast cancer outcome and response to therapy;
- Novel therapies and nanotherapies that tackle breast TME and can revert its immunosuppressive activity
- Advanced technologies to study breast cancer and to capture the heterogeneity of the tumor-TME system;
- Pre-clinical and clinical studies illustrating the impact of current and novel treatments on TME remodeling and immunity shaping in breast cancer
Please note: Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics, computational analysis, or predictions of public databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) will not be accepted in any of the sections of Frontiers in Oncology.