Reprogramming of normal fibroblasts into ovarian cancer-associated fibroblasts via non-vesicular paracrine signaling induces an activated fibroblast phenotype.

ABSTRACT: Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are key contributors to ovarian cancer (OC) progression and therapeutic resistance through dysregulation of the extracellular matrix (ECM). CAFs are a heterogenous population derived from different cell types through activation and reprogramming. Current studies rely on uncharacterized heterogenous primary CAFs or normal fibroblasts that fail to recapitulate CAF-like tumor behavior. Here, we present that conditioned media from ovarian cancer lines leads to an increase in the activated state of fibroblasts demonstrated by functional assays and up-regulation of known CAF-related genes and ECM pathways. Phenotypic and functional characterization demonstrated that the conditioned CAFs expressed a CAF-like phenotype, strengthened proliferation, secretory, co

SUBMITTER: Axemaker H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11365755 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature