ROS-major mediators of extracellular matrix remodeling during tumor progression

• ROS and oxidative stress affect cancer progression.
• ROS participate in the remodeling of tumor/stroma ECM.
• ECM-tumor cell interface is moulded by ROS.
• ROS activate stroma cells.
• ECM remodeling and tumor escape.

Extracellular matrices (ECMs) represent a complex network of proteins, proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), composed of independent structural domains, ultimately constituting the cell microenvironment. As a highly organized, insoluble suprastructure, the ECM can, in a spatially patterned and regulated manner, integrate and deliver multiple complex signals to cells that affect their behavior. During the progression of carcinogenesis, tumor cells, through a continually changing interface, remodel and simultaneously interact with the components of ECM, as well as with surrounding stromal cells. Within this complex network of ECM components affecting tumor progression, reactive oxygen species/reactive nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) play a wide emerging role. In this minireview we will focus on the ROS-dependent modulations of tumor ECM and how this in turn affects the insidious pathways of tumor progression and dissemination.