Building an Organ-Wide Macroscopic View of Cancer Hallmarks

Summary: Despite an increasingly detailed understanding of cancer hallmarks at molecular or atomic resolution, most studies, however, fall short of investigating the systemic interactions of cancer with the human body. We propose to investigate the hallmarks of cancer from an organ-wide macroscopic view, discuss the challenges in preclinical and clinical research to study the cross-organ regulation of cancer together with potential directions to overcome these challenges, and foresee how this holistic view may be translated into more effective therapies.