Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Jun 15, 2024; 16(6): 2304-2317
Published online Jun 15, 2024. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v16.i6.2304
Colorectal cancer and dormant metastases: Put to sleep or destroy?
Marina A Senchukova
Marina A Senchukova, Department of Oncology, Orenburg State Medical University, Orenburg 460000, Russia
Author contributions: Senchukova MA solely contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author declares no conflict-of-interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Marina A Senchukova, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Oncology, Orenburg State Medical University, 6 Sovetskaya Street, Orenburg 460000, Russia. masenchukova@yandex.com
Received: February 24, 2024
Revised: April 19, 2024
Accepted: April 30, 2024
Published online: June 15, 2024
Processing time: 111 Days and 9.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: After reading the review by An et al “Biological factors driving colorectal cancer metastasis” (World J Gastrointest Oncol 2024, 16: 259-272), I had a desire to discuss with readers the problem associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) dormant metastases. Metastases can be detected during the initial diagnosis of CRC or can appear many years after treatment. Late metastases are caused by dormant tumor cells. This editorial discusses the most important features of dormant metastases and premetastatic niches, factors that promote the activation of dormant metastases, and possible therapeutic strategies to promote tumor cell dormancy or their killing in CRCs.