Key information
This lecture will describe the tumor microenvironment, beginning with the mechanisms that lead to the creation of a tumor niche and continuing through the steps that allow it to evolve to favor tumor growth and dissemination. The tumor microenvironment refers to the complex ecosystem in which tumor cells reside and interact. The key take-home messages in this lecture are that (1) Tumors are tissues, and the temporal and spatial organization of those tissues is a critical determinant of tumor biological behavior. (2) Mutations of driver genes are essential events required to initiate tumors (and can be unique to tumors, individuals, and/or species), but ultimately, selective pressures to establish a niche and form a new, organized tissue within the constraints of its anatomical location are critical determinants of tumor progression. And finally, (3) strategies to detect and disrupt the formation of the tumor microenvironment provide a new frontier for safe and effective cancer treatment, control, and prevention.
Learning Objectives
- Learners will have an improved understanding of the formation of the tumor niche and the evolution of the tumor microenvironment.
- Learners will recognize that natural selection dictates the evolution towards convergent molecular programs, regardless of mutational drivers, to create predictable tumor phenotypes.
- Learners will appreciate opportunities for therapies directed towards the tumor microenvironment to more effectively manage malignant cancers.
Presenter - Jamie Modiano, VMD, PhD
- Perlman Professor of Oncology and Comparative Medicine
- Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences
- College of Veterinary Medicine and Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota
The ACVIM has developed nine (9) Science of Veterinary Oncology (SOVO) online courses that are currently available and complimentary for ACVIM members with five (5) more in development and coming soon. These modules offer foundational building blocks of core knowledge areas pertaining to veterinary oncology and were developed based on the Job Task Analysis review performed in 2016. All modules are led by industry experts and each module is RACE-approved.
All Sessions:
- Cancer Bioenergetics - Douglass H. Thamm, VMD, DACVIM (Oncology)
- Cancer Stem Cells - Professor David Argyle, PhD and Lisa Pang, PhD
- Cell Signaling and Signal Transduction Inhibitors - Cheryl London, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (Oncology)
- Discovery and Evaluation of Anticancer Drugs - David Lowery, PhD
- Epigenetics of Cancer - Jeffrey Bryan, DVM, MS, Phd, DACVIM (Oncology)
- Genomic Instability - Kelly R. Hume, DVM, DACVIM (Oncology)
- Invasion and Metastasis - Robert B. Rebhun, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (Oncology)
- Pharmacology of Cancer Drugs and Resistance - Luke Wittenburg, DVM, PhD, DACVCP
- Tumor Microenvironment - Jamie Modiano, VMD, PhD
