Chemotherapy resistance and stromal targets in breast cancer treatment: a review

Spek, Y.M. van der; Kroep, J.R.; Tollenaar, R.A.E.M.; Mesker, W.E. (2020)

Article / Letter to editor

Therapy resistance is a known problem in breast cancer and is associated with a variety of mechanisms. The role of the tumor microenvironment in cancer development and resistance mechanisms is becoming increasingly understood. Tumor-stroma is the main component of the tumor microenvironment. Stromal cells like cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are believed to contribute to chemotherapy resistance via the production of several secreted factors like cytokines and chemokines. CAFs are found to influence disease progression; patients with primary tumors with a high amount of tumor-stroma have a significantly worse outcome. Therefore the role of CAFs resistance mechanisms makes them a promising target in anti-cancer therapy. An overview of recent advances in strategies to target breast cancer stroma is given and the current literature regarding these stromal targets is discussed. CAF-specific proteins as well as secreted molecules involved in tumor-stroma interactions provide possibilities for stroma-specific therapy. The development of stroma-specific therapy is still in its infancy and the available literature is limited. Within the scope of personalized treatment, biomarkers based on the tumor-stroma have future potential for the improvement of treatment via image-guided surgery (IGS) and PET scanning.

• Breast cancer
• Tumor-stroma
• Chemotherapy resistance
• Stromal targets
• Review

• All authors: Spek, Y.M. van der; Kroep, J.R.; Tollenaar, R.A.E.M.; Mesker, W.E.
• Date: 2020-10-01
• Journal: Molecular Biology Reports
• Volume: 47
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 8169 - 8177
• DOI: doi:10.1007/s11033-020-05853-1
• Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11033-020-05853-1