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Review
. 2022 Jun 18;23(12):6806.
doi: 10.3390/ijms23126806.

Breast Cancer Metastasis: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Implications

Misung Park  1   2 , Dohee Kim  1 , Sunghyub Ko  1 , Ayoung Kim  1 , Kyumin Mo  1 , Hyunho Yoon  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Breast Cancer Metastasis: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Implications

Misung Park et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women worldwide. Metastasis is the leading cause of high mortality in most cancers. Although predicting the early stage of breast cancer before metastasis can increase the survival rate, breast cancer is often discovered or diagnosed after metastasis has occurred. In general, breast cancer has a poor prognosis because it starts as a local disease and can spread to lymph nodes or distant organs, contributing to a significant impediment in breast cancer treatment. Metastatic breast cancer cells acquire aggressive characteristics from the tumor microenvironment (TME) through several mechanisms including epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and epigenetic regulation. Therefore, understanding the nature and mechanism of breast cancer metastasis can facilitate the development of targeted therapeutics focused on metastasis. This review discusses the mechanisms leading to metastasis and the current therapies to improve the early diagnosis and prognosis in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Keywords: EMT; breast cancer; metastasis; tumor microenvironment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The general regulatory signaling and related inhibitors associated with breast cancer. The mechanisms through various receptors such as EGFR, HER2, VEGFR, TGFβR, and IGF1-R are closely associated with breast cancer initiation, growth, and metastasis. In addition, epigenetic changes also induce aggressive properties of breast cancer to induce metastasis. Therefore, these complex mechanisms can be a target for metastatic breast cancer treatment, and small molecular inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies that inhibit these mechanisms have been developed.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The various mechanisms and factors inducing the metastasis of breast cancer. Induction of EMT is directly related to the metastasis of breast cancer. In addition, multiple cytokines secreted by TME and epigenetic modification promote breast cancer metastasis by maintaining and expanding cancer stem cells with drug resistance and metastatic potential.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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