Tumor microenvironmental physiology and its implications for radiation oncology

The microenvironmental physiology of tumors is uniquely different from that of normal tissues. It is characterized, inter alia, by O(2) depletion (hypoxia, anoxia), glucose and energy deprivation, high lactate levels, and extracellular acidosis, parameters that are anisotropically distributed within the tumor mass. This hostile microenvironment is largely dictated by the abnormal tumor vasculature and heterogeneous microcirculation. Hypoxia and...