RE: The tumor as organizer model

In their recent article “The tumor as organizer model” Li and Stanger argue that cancer cells are the principle organizers of their tumor microenvironment (TME)(1). We believe that this is an oversimplification. This is because some tumors do not induce new stroma but rather co-opt and preserve the pre-existing microenvironmental structures of the tissues they colonize, suggesting that the pre-existing tissue microenvironment can also act as a ‘tumor organizer.’In the embryo, a small number of organizer cells determine the structure of the entire embryo by influencing neighboring cells to change fate. Li and Stanger propose an analogous ‘tumor as organizer’model in which a developing tumor is the primary architect of its microenvironment, which ultimately leads to disorganized and heterogenous tumors. A counterpoint to the ‘tumor as organizer’concept is the histopathological observation that many tumors …