The relationship between early embryo development and tumourigenesis

Abstract

• Introduction • Embryonic origin of cancer ‐ Early embryo development and tumourigenesis • Similarity in cell invasive behaviours • Similarity in epigenetic regulation • Similarity in gene expression • Similarity in protein profiling • Similarity in other biological behaviours • Conclusion With the recent substantial progress in developmental biology and cancer biology, the similarities between early embryo development and tumourigenesis, as well as the important interaction between tumours and embryos become better appreciated. In this paper, we review in detail the embryonic origin of tumour, and the similarities between early embryo development and tumourigenesis with respect to cell invasive behaviours, epigenetic regulation, gene expression, protein profiling and other important biological behaviours. Given an improved understanding of the relationship between early embryo development and tumourigenesis, now we have better and broader resources to attack cancer from the perspective of developmental biology and develop next generation of prognostic and therapeutic approaches for this devastating disease.