The acceleration of metastases after tumor removal and the paradoxical phenomenon of concomitant tumor resistance

DANIELA R. MONTAGNA; PAULA CHIARELLA; ROBERTO P. MEISS ; RAÚL A. RUGGIERO

JOURNAL OF CANCER RESEARCH AND THERAPEUTICS

MEDKNOW PUBLICATIONS

Lugar: New Dehli; Año: 2018

0973-1482

Although surgical extirpation of tumors is usually clinically recommended, tumor removal may entail an undesired side eect: the risk of accelerating the growth of metastases. This eect may account for the relatively modest survival benets observed when surgery is accomplished after tumor cells have already disseminated to distant anatomical sites even when tumor removal is combined with chemotherapy or immunotherapy. Although dierent mechanisms could contribute to the enhancement of residual tumor growth after tumor removal, probably a main eect is associated with the withdrawing of an inhibitory eect generated, by certain circumstances, by the primary tumor on its own metastases. This inhibitory eect is a particular case of a more general and paradoxical phenomenon known as concomitant tumor resistance (CR) in which a tumor-bearing host inhibits or retards the growth of secondary tumor implants despite the fact that the primary tumor grows progressively. In this essay we especially focus on the last investigations of our laboratory concerning the importance of tyrosine isomers as mediators of the phenomenon of CR and on their capacity to inhibit established metastases. Taking into account that metastases are considered the main problem in cancer pathology, our investigations aimed to elucidate the molecular basis of the phenomenon of CR might stimulate the design of new and less harmful means of managing malignant diseases, especially by controlling the growth of metastases after the removal of a primary tumor, or after other injuries or stressors that have been claimed to promote the escape of metastases from dormancy