肿瘤相关成纤维细胞与肿瘤微环境

Carcinoma-Associated-Fibroblasts and Tumor Microenvironment

肿瘤的发展过程与肿瘤微环境密切相关,而肿瘤相关成纤维细胞(CAFs)是上述微环境中最主要的宿主细胞,CAFs是一类不同细胞源性的细胞群,可来源于多种细胞包括静止的成纤维细胞、上皮细胞、内皮细胞和间质干细胞的分化过程。体内和体外生物学实验均证实,成纤维细胞在肿瘤微环境中并不是被动的对肿瘤发展提供支持,而是发挥了至关重要的作用,所以靶向CAFs有望成为肿瘤治疗的新方向,对CAFs相关分子标记物和分子事件的进一步探索将为抗肿瘤的临床治疗提供新的思路。本文将对CAFs的来源以及CAFs对肿瘤发生发展、转移及VEGF耐受等方面的作用做一综述。

Tumor microenvironment contributes greatly to tumor initiation, progression and metastasis. While carcinoma-associated-fibroblasts （CAFs） are the most important host cells in this microenvironment. CAFs is a heterogeneous cell population which can arise from the differentiation of resting fibroblasts, epithelial cells, endothelial cells and mesenchymal stem cells. Instead of passive ＂by- standers＂, experiments in vitro and in vivo have demonstrated the important role of CAFs in tumor progression. Therefore, CAFs will be used as new targets for anti-tumor therapy. It is important to conduct further research on the mechanism biology as well as to identify novel molecular markers of CAFs. Here, we will describe the multiple origins of CAFs and the functions of CAFs on tumor initiation, progression, metastasis and anti-VEGF resistance.