Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Build and Secure the Tumor Microenvironment.

ABSTRACT: Tumor cells reside in a highly complex and heterogeneous tumor microenvironment (TME), which is composed of a myriad of genetically stable non-cancer cells, including fibroblasts, immune cells, endothelial cells, and epithelial cells, and a tumor-specific extracellular matrix (ECM). Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), as an abundant and active stromal cell population in the TME, function as the signaling center and remodeling machine to aid the creation of a desmoplastic tumor niche. Although there is no denial that the TME and CAFs may have anti-tumor effects as well, a great deal of findings reported in recent years have convincingly revealed the tumor-promoting effects of CAFs and CAF-derived ECM proteins, enzymes, chemical factors and other downstream effectors. While there is growin

SUBMITTER: Liu T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6492564 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature