The pre-metastatic niche — the accumulation of aberrant immune cells and extracellular-matrix proteins in target organs — primes the initially healthy organ microenvironment and renders it amenable for subsequent colonization by metastatic cancer cells. By attracting metastatic cells, mimics of the pre-metastatic niche offer both diagnostic and therapeutic potential. However, deconstructing the complexity of the niche by identifying the interactions between cell populations as well as the mediatory roles of the immune system, soluble factors, extracellular-matrix proteins and stromal cells has proved challenging. Experimental models are needed to recapitulate niche-population biology in situ and to mediate in vivo tumour-cell homing, colonization and proliferation. In this Review, we outline the biology of the pre-metastatic niche and discuss advances in the engineering of niche-mimicking biomaterials that regulate the behaviour of tumour cells at an implant site. Such ‘oncomaterials’ offer strategies for the early detection of metastatic events, the inhibition of the formation of the pre-metastatic niche and the attenuation of metastatic progression.

转移前的生态位-靶器官中异常免疫细胞和细胞外基质蛋白的积累-引发了最初健康的器官微环境，使其适合随后被转移性癌细胞定植。通过吸引转移细胞，转移前小生境的模拟物提供了诊断和治疗潜力。然而，通过鉴定细胞群体之间的相互作用以及免疫系统，可溶性因子，细胞外基质蛋白和基质细胞的介导作用来解构利基的复杂性已被证明具有挑战性。需要实验模型以原位概括利基种群生物学并在体内介导肿瘤细胞归巢，定植和增殖。在这篇综述中，我们概述了转移前小生境的生物学特性，并讨论了模仿小生境的生物材料的工程进展，这些材料可调节植入部位肿瘤细胞的行为。这种“癌性材料”为转移事件的早期检测，转移前小生境的形成抑制和转移进程的衰减提供了策略。