Inflammatory Response of Tumor-Activated Hepatic Sinusoidal Endothelium as a Target for the Screening of Metastasis Chemopreventive Drugs

The pathogenesis of cancer dissemination and metastasis involves a cascade of interdependent events (1 ). These are regulated by complex host-tumor cell interaction mechanisms, such as cancer cell adhesion to endothelium and extracellular matrix, cancer cell migration and invasion through stromal barriers, and cancer-induced immune cell disfunction and neo-angiogenesis. Proinflammatory cytokine blockade inhibits cancer metastasis development under experimental conditions (2 ,3 ), suggesting that proinflammatory mediators regulate host-tumor cell interactions contributing to arrest and implantation of disseminated cancer cells in target organs.