Expression profiles of cell populations purified from human CRC (4 ways)

The survival of isolated metastatic cells and expansion into macroscopic tumour has been recognized as a limiting step for metastasis formation in several cancer types yet the determinants of this process remain largely uncharacterized. In colorectal cancer (CRC), we identify a transcriptional programme in tumour-associated stromal cells, which is intimately linked to a high risk of developing recurrent disease after therapy. A large proportion of CRCs display mutational inactivation of the TGF-beta pathway but paradoxically they are characterized by high TGF-beta production. In these tumours, TGF-beta instructs a transcriptional programme in stromal cells, which confers a high risk of developing metastatic disease.

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Calon A, Espinet E, Palomo-Ponce S, Tauriello DV, Iglesias M, Céspedes MV, Sevillano M, Nadal C, Jung P, Zhang XH, Byrom D, Riera A, Rossell D, Mangues R, Massagué J, Sancho E, Batlle E