OBJECTIVE The ROR1 and ROR2 receptor tyrosine kinases have both been implicated in ovarian cancer progression and have been shown to drive migration and invasion. There is an increasing importance of the role of stroma in ovarian cancer metastasis; however, neither ROR1 nor ROR2 expression in tumor or stromal cells has been analyzed in the same clinical cohort. AIM To determine ROR1 and ROR2 ...

We examined gap junction communication in an in vitro model of hematopoiesis, using the murine bone marrow stroma cell line S-17, and primary cultures of murine marrow-derived blood cell precursors. S-17 cells express several connexins, the major one being connexin 43. Connexin expression and formation of functional gap junctions is modulated by stroma cell density. Transfection of S-17 cells w...

The ultrastructure of the corneal stroma of the spiny dogfish, Squalus acanthias, was studied in order to determine whether there was a morphologic basis for the alleged inability of the elasmobranch cornea to swell, and for the possibly related maintenance of corneal transparency when it is immersed in distilled water. The most apparent morphologic explanation for the nonswelling properties wa...

It was traditionally believed that the tumor was the seed that lay in the passive soil of the microenvironment, with the latter providing "permissive elements" for the tumor to grow and invade. Subsequently, it was recognized that both neoplasia and its microenvironment interacted as equal partners. Recent advances addressing genomic alterations in the tumor microenvironment, relevant to clinic...

Uncontrolled proliferation is a defining feature of the malignant phenotype. Nevertheless, the supportive network provided by the stroma is indispensable for further invasion, progression and metastasis of cancer cells. In addition, the role of inflammation in tumorigenesis is now generally accepted, and it has become evident that an inflammatory microenvironment is an essential component of tu...