Mukaida Naofumi, Sasaki Soichiro
Naofumi Mukaida, Soichiro Sasaki, Division of Molecular Bioregulation, Cancer Research Institute, Kanazawa University, Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan.
World J Gastroenterol. 2016 Jun 21;22(23):5301-16. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i23.5301.
Tumor microenvironments have a crucial role in cancer initiation and progression, and share many molecular and pathological features with wound healing process. Unless treated, tumors, however, do not heal in contrast to wounds that heal within a limited time framework. Wounds heal in coordination of a myriad of types of cells, particularly endothelial cells, leukocytes, and fibroblasts. Similar sets of cells also contribute to cancer initiation and progression, and as a consequence, anti-cancer treatment strategies have been proposed and tested by targeting endothelial cells and/or leukocytes. Compared with endothelial cells and leukocytes, less attention has been paid to the roles of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), fibroblasts present in tumor tissues, because their heterogeneity hinders the elucidation on them at cellular and molecular levels. Here, we will discuss the origin of CAFs and their crucial roles in cancer initiation and progression, and the possibility to develop a novel type of anti-cancer treatment by manipulating the migration and functions of CAFs.
肿瘤微环境在癌症的起始和进展中起着至关重要的作用，并且与伤口愈合过程具有许多分子和病理特征。然而，与在有限时间内愈合的伤口不同，除非得到治疗，肿瘤不会愈合。伤口在多种类型细胞的协同作用下愈合，特别是内皮细胞、白细胞和成纤维细胞。类似的细胞群也有助于癌症的起始和进展，因此，已经提出并测试了通过靶向内皮细胞和/或白细胞的抗癌治疗策略。与内皮细胞和白细胞相比，肿瘤相关成纤维细胞（CAF），即存在于肿瘤组织中的成纤维细胞，其作用受到的关注较少，因为它们的异质性阻碍了在细胞和分子水平上对其进行阐明。在这里，我们将讨论CAF的起源及其在癌症起始和进展中的关键作用，以及通过操纵CAF的迁移和功能开发新型抗癌治疗方法的可能性。
