Cancer stem cell and stromal microenvironment
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Updated: May 12, 2026

Heteromulticellular Stromal Cells in Scaffold-free 3D Cultures of Epithelial Cancer Cells to Drive Invasion
Published on: April 4, 2025
Li Li1, John Cole, David A Margolin
1Institute for Translational Research, Laboratory of Translational Cancer Research.
Background:
Chemotherapeutic resistance and local recurrence or distant organ metastasis are the major causes of cancer mortality. Conventional cancer treatments do not consistently prevent cancer recurrence.
Methods:
We illustrate the key roles that cancer stem cells and the tumor microenvironment-particularly the lymph node stromal microenvironment-play in tumor drug resistance, metastasis, and recurrence in 2 representative cancers: colorectal cancer and follicular lymphoma.
Conclusion:
We believe that combination treatment with chemotherapeutic agents in conjunction with targeted therapies, such as stromal/cancer stem cell signaling-targeted therapy, may effectively minimize cancer recurrence.
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