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The Tumor Microenvironment

The Tumor Microenvironment

Every normal cell or tissue is embedded in a complex local environment called stroma, consisting of different cell types, a basal membrane, and blood vessels. As normal cells mutate and develop into cancer cells, their local environment also changes to allow cancer progression. The tumor microenvironment (TME) consists of a complex cellular matrix of stromal cells and the developing tumor. The cross-talk between cancer cells and surrounding stromal cells is critical to disrupt normal tissue...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 21, 2025

A Mimic of the Tumor Microenvironment: A Simple Method for Generating Enriched Cell Populations and Investigating Intercellular Communication

A Mimic of the Tumor Microenvironment: A Simple Method for Generating Enriched Cell Populations and Investigating Intercellular Communication

Published on: September 20, 2016

Metabolic cell communication within tumour microenvironment: models, methods and perspectives.

M Parri¹, L Ippolito¹, P Cirri¹

¹Department of Experimental and Clinical Biomedical Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.

Current Opinion in Biotechnology

|May 17, 2020

Summary

Tumor microenvironment cues influence cancer malignancy. Understanding nutrient sharing between cancer and stromal cells is key to metabolic plasticity and tumor progression.

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Last Updated: Dec 21, 2025

A Mimic of the Tumor Microenvironment: A Simple Method for Generating Enriched Cell Populations and Investigating Intercellular Communication

A Mimic of the Tumor Microenvironment: A Simple Method for Generating Enriched Cell Populations and Investigating Intercellular Communication

Published on: September 20, 2016

Microfluidic Co-Culture Models for Dissecting the Immune Response in in vitro Tumor Microenvironments

Microfluidic Co-Culture Models for Dissecting the Immune Response in in vitro Tumor Microenvironments

Published on: April 30, 2021

MAME Models for 4D Live-cell Imaging of Tumor: Microenvironment Interactions that Impact Malignant Progression

MAME Models for 4D Live-cell Imaging of Tumor: Microenvironment Interactions that Impact Malignant Progression

Published on: February 17, 2012

Area of Science:

Oncology
Metabolic Engineering
Cancer Biology

Background:

Environmental cues significantly influence tumor malignancy, initiation, progression, and metastasis.
Stromal cells play a critical role in cancer metabolic plasticity through metabolic cooperation or competition with cancer cells.
Understanding nutrient exchange within the tumor microenvironment is crucial for predicting tumor outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

To review analytical and computational methods for investigating the tumor metabolic microenvironment.
To elucidate the fate of nutrients shared between tumor and stromal populations.
To identify molecular mechanisms governing metabolic interactions within the tumor microenvironment.

Main Methods:

Review of analytical techniques for studying metabolic interactions.
Review of computational approaches for modeling nutrient sharing.
Analysis of molecular pathways involved in tumor-stroma metabolic crosstalk.

Main Results:

Identified key analytical and computational strategies for assessing the tumor metabolic microenvironment.
Highlighted the importance of nutrient sharing in dictating cancer metabolic plasticity.
Outlined molecular modules that mediate metabolic relationships between cancer and stromal cells.

Conclusions:

Metabolic cooperation and competition between cancer and stromal cells are critical determinants of tumor progression.
Analytical and computational tools are essential for dissecting complex metabolic interactions in the tumor microenvironment.
Targeting metabolic crosstalk offers potential therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment.