Breast fibroblasts modulate early dissemination, tumorigenesis, and metastasis through alteration of extracellular matrix characteristics.

ABSTRACT: A wealth of evidence has now demonstrated that the microenvironment in which a tumorigenic cell evolves is as critical to its evolution as the genetic mutations it accrues. However, there is still relatively little known about how signals from the microenvironment contribute to the early events in the progression to malignancy. To address this question, we used a premalignant mammary model to examine how fibroblasts, and the extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins they secrete, influence progression to malignancy. Their effect on metastatic malignant cells was also assessed for comparison. We found that carcinoma-associated fibroblasts, and the distinct aligned ECM they deposit, can cause both premalignant and malignant mammary epithelial cells to assume a mesenchymal morphology that is associ

SUBMITTER: Dumont N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3593149 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature