Carcinoma-associated fibroblasts: orchestrating the composition of malignancy
- 1Department of Pathology, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143, USA;
- 2Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143, USA
- Corresponding author: thea.tlsty{at}ucsf.edu
Abstract
The tumor stroma is no longer seen solely as physical support for mutated epithelial cells but as an important modulator and even a driver of tumorigenicity. Within the tumor stromal milieu, heterogeneous populations of fibroblast-like cells, collectively termed carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), are key players in the multicellular, stromal-dependent alterations that contribute to malignant initiation and progression. This review focuses on novel insights into the contributions of CAFs to disease progression, emergent events leading to the generation of CAFs, identification of CAF-specific biomarkers predictive of disease outcome, and recent therapeutic approaches aimed at blunting or reverting detrimental protumorigenic phenotypes associated with CAFs.
Keywords
- carcinoma-associated fibroblasts
- CAF
- microenvironment
- field cancerization
- stromal–epithelial interactions
- CAF targeted therapies
Footnotes
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Article is online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.279737.116.
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