Conference on Tumor Induction and Progression

描述(申请人提供)：关于突变与微环境控制在分化和癌症中的相对重要性，癌症研究界和支持肿瘤生物学的资助机构已经开始发生转变。人们越来越多地认识到微环境和“背景”在正常组织功能和癌症发生和发展中的作用。事实上，NCI已经启动了一项“非同寻常的资助机会”计划，将其癌细胞的签名扩展到其微环境。“追求这一充满希望的新科学机会的科学家们不仅将阅读癌细胞的签名，还将阅读肿瘤微环境中看似正常的细胞的签名，以及反映癌细胞与宿主微环境相互作用时发生的变化的签名。”泰勒·贾克斯和鲍勃·温伯格在《细胞》杂志(2002年12月)上发表了一篇简短的评论文章，评论了这次会议的组织者之一和她的合作者在实验室所做的工作，并得出了如下结论：“突然之间，对癌细胞的二维研究即使不是过时的，也是奇怪的。”因此，认为细胞是一个更大的结构实体的一部分，这是一个发生巨变的成熟领域。然而，对微环境对组织功能和功能障碍影响的复杂性和程度的普遍理解和理解是有限的，有时还过于简单化。要推动这一领域的发展，以便能够完成深思熟虑和有意义的研究，需要绝大多数专注于分子的细胞和分子生物学家与那些在组织和宿主背景下工作的人之间进行深入对话。这次会议的目标不仅是将这一领域的过去和现在的研究结合在一起，而且还指出了我们现在需要的方向，因为我们有许多必要的工具来理解这种复杂性(Radisky和Bissell，2004)。我们将汇聚一批在微环境作用方面做出开创性工作的专家，以及一些新的 加入该领域的人才，展示最新的令人兴奋的发展，并为加快未来的探索和互动绘制地图。我们需要吸引更多的天才才能进入这一领域。在这个关于肿瘤微环境的第一次Keystone会议上，我们建议揭开这一领域的兴奋和希望。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A shift has begun to take place in both the cancer research community and in funding agencies that support tumor biology as to the relative importance of mutation vs. microenvironmental control in differentiation and cancer. There is increased appreciation of the role of the microenvironment and "context" in both normal tissue function and cancer initiation and progression. Indeed, NCI has initiated an "extraordinary funding opportunity" program to extend its signatures of the cancer cell to its microenvironment. "Scientists pursuing this promising new scientific opportunity will read not only the signatures of cancer cells but also signatures of seemingly normal cells within the tumor microenvironment and signatures that reflect changes that occur as cancer cells interact with the host microenvironment." Tyler Jacks and Bob Weinberg, in a mini review in Cell (Dec.2002) commented on the work from the laboratory of one of the organizers of this meeting and her collaborators, and concluded with the following: "Suddenly the study of cancer cells in two dimensions seems quaint if not archaic"! Thus, thinking of cells as part of a larger structural entity is an area ripe for a sea change. However, the general understanding and appreciation of the complexity and the extent of the microenvironment's influence on tissue function and dysfunction is limited, and at times simplistic. To move the field in this area so that thoughtful and significant research could be accomplished would require an in-depth dialogue between the vast majority of cell and molecular biologists who concentrate on the molecules and those who have worked in the context of the tissue and the host. The goal of this meeting is not only to bring together past and the present research in this field, but also point the way to where we need to go now that we have many of the tools that are necessary to understand this complexity (Radisky and Bissell, 2004). We will bring together a number of experts who have done pioneering work in the role of the microenvironment, and some of the new talents who have joined the field, and showcase recent exciting developments and chart a map for accelerating future exploration and interactions. We need to capture more brilliant minds to enter this area. In this first Keystone meeting on tumor microenvironment, we propose to unravel the excitement and the promise of the field.