Integration of microenvironmental and stress signaling antagonizes colorectal cancer progression

Genetic alterations can drive oncogenic events and cancer development. However, this is only half of the story. It is now evident that tumor progression only occurs if powerful stress signaling pathways and microenvironmental signals are overcome. Two recent Nature Cell Biology papers study how niche signals of primary and target organ barriers have to be overridden for oncogenes to allow for colorectal cancer (CRC) initiation and metastasis (Urosevic et al,; Whissell et al,). Two recent papers in NCB elucidate stromal signals and intrinsic cellular stress pathways as critical barriers for tumor progression and metastasis, respectively.