A revisited concept. Tumors: Wounds that do not heal

In 1986, Harold F. Dvorak, Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School Boston, published an essay in the New England Journal of Medicine entitled “Tumors: Wounds that do not heal” pointed out that similarities exist between tumor stroma generation and wound healing. Cancers share many features in common with tissue regeneration, including immune response, cell proliferation, cell migration, tissue remodeling, and cell death. In this review article, we analyze the importance and the limits of this concept, which confirm the close relationship between two apparently different biological processes.