Endocrine and Metabolic Regulation of Tumor Dynamics and Treatment Response

The endocrine system, including adipose tissues, plays a crucial role in shaping the tumor microenvironment through its influence on vascular function, metabolic homeostasis, and cellular signaling. Altered hormonal activity and metabolic imbalance can reshape the tumor microenvironment, promote abnormal oxygen and nutrient exchange, and modify how cancer cells adapt to host defense and therapeutic stress.

These intertwined mechanisms highlight the endocrine system as a key modulator of tumor growth and responsiveness to therapy.

Recent research underscores that endocrine and metabolic factors not only sustain tumor growth but also affect sensitivity to therapeutic agents, influencing angiogenesis, immune interactions, and cancer metabolic adaptation.

Understanding these regulatory networks offers a promising route toward identifying predictive biomarkers, developing therapies that target endocrine and metabolic uniqueness within tumors, and even defining predictive markers for treatment.

This Research Topic aims to advance our understanding of how endocrine and metabolic pathways interact with the tumor microenvironment, vascular remodeling, and therapeutic response in cancer. We welcome submissions spanning molecular, cellular, and translational approaches that provide insight into these dynamic processes and their clinical implications.

Themes of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Hormonal and metabolic control of tumor microenvironment and tumor vascular remodeling, including stroma cells and endothelial cell function

• Endocrine-driven alterations in tumor oxygenation, nutrient delivery, and perfusion

• Mechanisms linking endocrine dysregulation to antiangiogenic drug resistance or relapse

• Interactions between tumor metabolism and hormone receptor activity during targeted therapy or antiangiogenic treatment

• Endocrine or metabolic factors serving as biomarkers of vascular remodeling, therapeutic resistance, or relapse