Chemotherapy-induced metastasis: molecular mechanisms and clinical therapies.

Chemotherapy, the most widely accepted treatment for malignant tumors, is dependent on cell death induced by various drugs including antimetabolites, alkylating agents, mitotic spindle inhibitors, antitumor antibiotics, and hormonal anticancer drugs. In addition to causing side effects due to non-selective cytotoxicity, chemotherapeutic drugs can initiate and promote metastasis, which greatly reduces their clinical efficacy. The knowledge of how they induce metastasis is essential for developing strategies that improve the outcomes of chemotherapy. Herein, we summarize the recent findings on chemotherapy-induced metastasis and discuss the underlying mechanisms including tumor-initiating cell expansion, the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, extracellular vesicle involvement, and tumor microenvironment alterations. In addition, the use of combination treatments to overcome chemotherapy-induced metastasis is also elaborated. © 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Pharmacological Society.

Citation

Jin-Xuan Su, Si-Jia Li, Xiao-Feng Zhou, Zhi-Jing Zhang, Yu Yan, Song-Lin Liu, Qi Qi. Chemotherapy-induced metastasis: molecular mechanisms and clinical therapies. Acta pharmacologica Sinica. 2023 Sep;44(9):1725-1736

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PMID: 37169853

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