Tumor Microenvironment and Actin Cytoskeleton in Cancer Cell Metastasis

Dear Colleagues,

Most cancer-related deaths are not due to the primary tumor but, rather, due to the dissemination of cancer cells to other sites of the body through a process known as metastasis. For metastasis to take place, cells need to properly regulate their adhesion both to the extracellular matrix and the neighboring cells, as well as to coordinate actin cytoskeleton dynamics, to be able to finally detach from the original tumor mass, migrate, and invade through adjacent normal tissue to eventually reach another environment and establish a new metastatic colony there. Despite active research efforts in the field, there are still questions to be answered in order to better understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms governing cancer cell metastasis and the involvement of actin-related proteins in the process.

This Special Issue of IJMS will cover a variety of topics with regard to the involvement of tumor microenvironment and actin cytoskeleton in cancer cell metastasis, such as the role of integrin, extracellular matrix-related adhesion proteins, and actin cytoskeleton in cancer cell migration; in vitro and in vivo invasion; the role of tumor microenvironment components in metastasis; the role of actin-binding proteins; the involvement of biomechanics, latest methods, and advanced technologies in monitoring cancer cell metastasis and actin-structures in vitro; and developments with respect to actin-targeting drugs.          

Prof. Triantafyllos Stylianopoulos
Dr. Vasiliki Gkretsi
Guest Editors

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