Vasculogenic Mimicry in Breast Cancer: Clinical Relevance and Drivers

In solid tumors, vasculogenic mimicry (VM) is the formation of vascular structures by cancer cells, allowing to generate a channel-network able to transport blood and tumor cells. While angiogenesis is undertaken by endothelial cells, VM is assumed by cancer cells. Besides the participation of VM in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cells (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-07, Vol.10 (7), p.1758
Main Authors: Morales-Guadarrama, Gabriela, García-Becerra, Rocío, Méndez-Pérez, Edgar Armando, García-Quiroz, Janice, Avila, Euclides, Díaz, Lorenza
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Angiogenesis
Breast cancer
Endothelial cells
EphA2 protein
ErbB-2 protein
Genotype & phenotype
Growth factors
HER2
Hypoxia
Intestinal obstruction
Lymphatic system
Matrix metalloproteinase
Medical prognosis
Melanoma
Mesenchyme
Metastases
Metastasis
Mimicry
miRNA
Phenotypes
Review
Solid tumors
triple-negative
Tumor cells
Tumor microenvironment
tumor neovascularization
Tumorigenesis
Tumors
Vascular endothelial growth factor
Vascularization
vasculogenic mimicry
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Summary:In solid tumors, vasculogenic mimicry (VM) is the formation of vascular structures by cancer cells, allowing to generate a channel-network able to transport blood and tumor cells. While angiogenesis is undertaken by endothelial cells, VM is assumed by cancer cells. Besides the participation of VM in tumor neovascularization, the clinical relevance of this process resides in its ability to favor metastasis and to drive resistance to antiangiogenic therapy. VM occurs in many tumor types, including breast cancer, where it has been associated with a more malignant phenotype, such as triple-negative and HER2-positive tumors. The latter may be explained by known drivers of VM, like hypoxia, TGFB, TWIST1, EPHA2, VEGF, matrix metalloproteinases, and other tumor microenvironment-derived factors, which altogether induce the transformation of tumor cells to a mesenchymal phenotype with a high expression rate of stemness markers. This review analyzes the current literature in the field, including the participation of some microRNAs and long noncoding RNAs in VM-regulation and tumorigenesis of breast cancer. Considering the clinical relevance of VM and its association with the tumor phenotype and clinicopathological parameters, further studies are granted to target VM in the clinic.
ISSN:2073-4409
2073-4409
DOI:10.3390/cells10071758