Abstract:
Malignant tumor is typically characterized by fast proliferation and invasiveness. As such, tumor blood supply often fails to satisfy tumor growth requirements, resulting in a stressful cancer microenvironment with low oxygen level and insufficient nutrients. Cancer cells survive in such stressful environments by activating various signals (such as unfolded protein response), changing metabolic pathways, and undergoing autophagy. Hence, the cross-talk among these mechanisms should be determined to provide new insights into the interdynamics of cancer cells and their microenvironment. Furthermore, results would provide relevant information for the development of novel therapeutic strategies.