Vessels Encapsulating Tumor Clusters (VETC): a New Mechanism of Tumor Metastasis and A New Target for Precision Medicin
ZENG HuiXian1#, LI Zhe1#, CHEN JunGuang1, FANG JianHong1, ZHUANG ShiMei1,2*
Metastasis is responsible for high mortality of cancer patients. Uncovering the mechanisms of cancer metastasis and identifying the therapeutic targets for anti-metastasis treatment have always been the focus of cancer research. Blood-borne metastasis is the most common way of cancer metastasis. The classical dogma about metastasis is that cancer cells need to migrate and invade through the stroma and vascular wall. Recently, a novel vascular pattern has been identified in tumor tissues, that is, vessels form a cobweb-like network to isolate and encapsulate individual tumor clusters, which is named VETC (vessels encapsulating tumor clusters). VETC facilitates the release of the whole tumor cluster into the bloodstream, and provides an invasion-independent and more efficient metastasis mode. In recent years, the clinical significance of VETC has received extensive attention. This review summarizes the progress of VETC-related research, including the discovery history and regulatory mechanisms of VETC-mediated invasion-independent metastasis, the role of VETC in cancer precision therapy and the detection/prediction model of VETC. Finally, the key scientific problems to be solved in this field are proposed.
CN
EN