ReviewProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2022
Microenvironment-mediated cancer dormancy: Insights from metastability theory.
Review in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Exosome-Derived Non-Coding RNAs in the Tumor Microenvironment of Colorectal Cancer: Possible Functions, Mechanisms and Clinical Applications.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Pooled it
- NCOR2 represses MHC class I molecule expression to drive metastatic progression of breast cancer.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Molecular and Immune Mechanisms Governing Cancer Metastasis, Including Dormancy, Microenvironmental Niches, and Tumor-Specific Programs.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Microenvironmental and Molecular Pathways Driving Dormancy Escape in Bone Metastases.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Decoding cancer dormancy: integrative genomic, phenotypic and live-cell imaging analysis to reveal the hidden cancer cell reservoir.Molecular cancer · 2025Review
- Review
- Review
- SETDB1 amplification in osteosarcomas: Insights from its role in healthy tissues and other cancer types.Oncotarget · 2025Review
- Advancements in Understanding the Hide-and-Seek Strategy of Hibernating Breast Cancer Cells and Their Implications in Oncology from a Broader Perspective: A Comprehensive Overview.Current issues in molecular biology · 2024Review
- Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Secreted Exosomes and Soluble Signals Regulate Breast Cancer Metastatic Dormancy: Current Progress and Future Outlook.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Dormant cancer cells and polyploid giant cancer cells: The roots of cancer recurrence and metastasis.Clinical and translational medicine · 2024Review
- Upregulation of fibronectin and its integrin receptors - an adaptation to isolation stress that facilitates tumor initiation.Journal of cell science · 2023Article
- Review
- Review
- How cancer hijacks the body's homeostasis through the neuroendocrine system.Trends in neurosciences · 2023Review
- Nasopharyngeal carcinoma ecology theory: cancer as multidimensional spatiotemporal "unity of ecology and evolution" pathological ecosystem.Theranostics · 2023Review
- Breast Cancer Metastatic Dormancy and Relapse: An Enigma of Microenvironment(s).Cancer research · 2022Review
- Alterations of Cytoskeleton Networks in Cell Fate Determination and Cancer Development.Biomolecules · 2022Review
- Viscoelastic Liquid Matrix with Faster Bulk Relaxation Time Reinforces the Cell Cycle Arrest Induction of the Breast Cancer Cells via Oxidative Stress.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Clinical and Biological Aspects of Disseminated Tumor Cells and Dormancy in Breast Cancer.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Dormancy is an evolutionarily conserved protective mechanism widely observed in nature. A pathological example is found during cancer metastasis, where cancer cells disseminate from the primary tumor, home to secondary organs, and enter a growth-arrested state, which could last for decades. Recent studies have pointed toward the microenvironment being heavily involved in inducing, preserving, or ceasing this dormant state, with a strong focus on identifying specific molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways. Increasing evidence now suggests the existence of an interplay between intracellular as well as extracellular biochemical and mechanical cues in guiding such processes. Despite the inherent complexities associated with dormancy, proliferation, and growth of cancer cells and tumor tissues, viewing these phenomena from a physical perspective allows for a more global description, independent from many details of the systems. Building on the analogies between tissues and fluids and thermodynamic phase separation concepts, we classify a number of proposed mechanisms in terms of a thermodynamic metastability of the tumor with respect to growth. This can be governed by interaction with the microenvironment in the form of adherence (wetting) to a substrate or by mechanical confinement of the surrounding extracellular matrix. By drawing parallels with clinical and experimental data, we advance the notion that the local energy minima, or metastable states, emerging in the tissue droplet growth kinetics can be associated with a dormant state. Despite its simplicity, the provided framework captures several aspects associated with cancer dormancy and tumor growth.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.