MOLECULAR INSIGHTS INTO PROSTATE CANCER PROGRESSION: THE MISSING LINK OF TUMOR MICROENVIRONMENT

Cancer is not a single cell disease. Aberrant cancer cells and their interactive microenvironment are needed for prostate cancer to progress to androgen independence and distant metastasis. It is highly plausible that newly evolved prostate cancer cell clones dominate cancer metastasis after cell-cell and cell-matrix interaction with the host microenvironment, rather than the selection or expansion of a preexisting prostate cancer cell clone(s). Based on this premise potential molecular targets in the microenvironment are especially emphasized. Further elucidation of the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor-stromal interaction may yield improved medical treatments for prostate cancer growth and metastasis.