Ion Christian Chiricuta

By Ion Christian Chiricuta

Remodeling is a new concept used to describe the effects of cancer cells properties to modify the extracellular microenvironment (ECM) to favor the proliferation, invasiveness, migration, and metastatic potential of the tumor. All these characteristics are determined by both the direct and indirect interactions of the cancer cells, with components of their microenvironment. The remodeling concept described in this chapter considers the changes produced by the local treatment alone, or in combination with systemic treatments on local advanced primary tumors or bone metastases (vertebral body or pelvic bones). The cases presented considered locally advanced cancer that disturbed the local anatomy at different levels as chest wall, the skin of the face, eye orbit, and vertebral or pelvic bones. Changes in the extracellular microenvironment, after the applied treatment, normalized all or only in special parts of the extracellular matrix, with a remodeling organ-specific process to the treated tumor bed. In some of these cases was reached a restitutio till to the most important component, the basal membrane. The four phases of the healing process of lesions produced by radiotherapy (the hemostasis, inflammatory, proliferative, and remodeling phase) and the possible changes at the level of ECM were here analyzed.

Part of the book: Radiation Oncology