Intramedullary spinal cord tumors (IMSCT) are rare entities for which there currently exist no standardized treatment paradigms. Consequently, patients usually receive treatment modalities that were established for intracerebral tumors; these approaches, however, typically result in functional impairment, recurrent tumor growth, and short overall survival. There is a distinct lack of promising research efforts in this field, which raises questions about whether spinal cord tumor microenvironment (TME) might promote the development, progression, and treatment resistance of IMSCT. In this review, we aim to examine spinal cord biology, compare spinal cord and brain microenvironments, and discuss mutual interactions between IMSCT and TME. Manipulating these pathways may provide new treatment approaches for future patient groups.
Keywords: Astrocytes; Astrocytoma; Blood-spinal cord barrier; Cancer; Central nervous system; Ependymoma; Extracellular matrix; Immune system; Intramedullary; Microenvironment; Neurons; Pericytes; Spinal cord; Tumor; Vascularization.