About this Research Topic

Background

This Research Topic is a second volume. Please see the first volume at: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/27986/vascular-co-option-and-beyond-for-cancer-biology#overview

Knowledge of the relationship between cancer and blood vessel growth dates back to the early days of medicine in the classical Greek world. In our own world, for more than twenty years now, it has been formally recognized that this relationship constitutes one of the “Hallmarks of cancer biology". Originally, the prevailing idea was that cancer could not grow beyond a few millimetres and could not produce metastases in absence of “angiogenesis” i.e. the sprouting of new vessels from existing ones. Hence the hallmark was “Inducing angiogenesis”. In 2022, however, in the third paper on the Hallmarks of Cancer, “Inducing angiogenesis” has been replaced by “Inducing or accessing vasculature”.

Readers familiar with the previous special collection already know that this paradigm shift follows the discovery that, actually, tumours can grow and metastasise in absence of any type of angiogenesis or vasculogenesis, and this occurs mostly through a process called “vessel co-option”, which allows tumour cells to exploit normal, pre-existing vessels.

It has also emerged that there is more to vascular co-option than just allowing a cancer cell to proliferate at the co-option site. Some tumours cells, once they have co-opted a vessel, rather than producing a tumour “in loco” actually migrate alongside the abluminal surface of the vessel and produce, eventually, a distant metastasis. This is a new spreading mechanism called “pericyte mimicry”, which joins the haematogenous and the lymphatic ways of dissemination. Last, but certainly not least, is the finding that some other cancer cells, when co-opting a vessel, do not grow or migrate, but appears to fall dormant.

The unravelling of these new features of cancer biology suggests new approaches for treatment by targeting the pathways that make a cell non-angiogenic and/or by trying to block co-option or convert it to angiogenesis. Also important are the initial findings suggesting the possible benefits of using classic anti-angiogenic drugs along with anti co-option approaches.

We therefore have a good reason for inviting our colleagues to look at this new field, jump into it, and then send their papers.

Therefore, the main areas suggested for this Research Topic are:
- Molecular mechanisms of co-option
- Regulation of apoptotic pathways in co-option
- Co-option and the fate of the cell
- Pericyte mimicry
- Perivascular niche and cell dormancy
- Role of the (co-opted) perivascular niche in tumour growth and metastasis
- How to identify non-angiogenic tumour growth
- Interaction between cancer cells and newly formed vessel: a comparable co-option process?
-Anti-angiogenic/anti-vessel co-option treatment alongside immunotherapy: a promising approach

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.

Keywords: cancer, blood vessels, co-option, angiogenesis, treatment

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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