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Page 2 of 27 J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2019;5:5 I http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-4722.2018.108

Besides the scientific sessions, participants also can enjoy the social events, which include the city tour,
classical music concert and Gala dinner.

Scientific and Social event programs and the Photogallery of the Conference are available at www.isidorolab.com.

This Special Issue of Journal of Cancer Metastasis and Treatment is a collection of the articles and extended
abstracts that refer to the lectures presented at the Conference. Commentaries and review articles related to
the theme of the Conference are also included.

Ciro Isidoro and Gianluca Gaidano, Guest Editors

1. Role of canonical and non-canonical signaling in fibroblast to cancer - associated
fibroblast transition

1
1
1
Rangasudhagar Radhakrishnan , Ji Hee Ha , Muralidharan Jayaraman , Katherine M. Moxley ,
1
4
3
Jinsong Liu , Ciro Isidoro , Yong Sang Song , Danny N. Dhanasekaran 1
2
1 Stephenson Cancer Center, the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104,
USA.
2 Department of Pathology, the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
3 Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara 28100, Italy.
4 Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University, College of Medicine, Seoul 151-921, South Korea.
Cancer is identified as the second leading cause of death worldwide with an estimated 9.6 million deaths
in 2018. The mortality rate of cancer is primarily due to disease recurrence and therapy resistance. Recent
studies have shown that the normal stroma in the cancer tissue is converted into an “activated” cancer-
promoting niche by the cancer cells facilitating aggressive cancer growth. Normal fibroblasts in the vicinity
of the cancer cells are primary recruits in this activation process. “Activated” fibroblasts, defined as cancer
associated fibroblasts (CAFs), play a critical role in cancer progression, metastasis, and therapy resistance.
Therefore, identifying the mechanisms underlying the conversion of normal cells to CAFs is of critical
importance to define novel effective therapeutic targets. Using normal fibroblasts and patient-derived
ovarian CAFs, we have identified a role for both lysophosphatidic acid-receptor (LPAR) mediated canonical
signaling pathways and lncRNA-hub mediated non-canonical signaling pathways in the induction and
maintenance of CAF phenotype in normal fibroblasts. Our studies demonstrate the potential interplay
between LPA-LPAR signaling-hub and lncRNA-signaling hub in the maintenance of the CAF-phenotype in
ovarian cancer. Our results provide evidence that targeted inhibition of this signaling nexus in CAFs may
represent an adjuvant therapy in ovarian cancer.

2. Obesity-associated alterations of adipose tissue microenvironment and colorectal cancer

Sandra Gessani, Manuela Del Cornò, Lucia Conti, Gloria Donninelli, Barbara Varano, Beatrice
Scazzocchio, Rosaria Varì, Massimo D’Archivio, Roberta Masella

Istituto Superiore di Sanità - Center for Gender-Specific Medicine, Rome 00161, Italy.

Introduction: Obesity, a low-grade inflammatory condition, is a major risk factor for the development of
several pathologies including colorectal cancer (CRC). Adipose tissue (AT) is recognized as a key endocrine