Dasari Subramanyam, Fang Yiming, Mitra Anirban K
Medical Sciences Program, Indiana University School of Medicine, Bloomington, IN 47401, USA.
Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA.
Cancers (Basel). 2018 Oct 29;10(11):406. doi: 10.3390/cancers10110406.
Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy, and patient prognosis has not improved significantly over the last several decades. In order to improve therapeutic approaches and patient outcomes, there is a critical need for focused research towards better understanding of the disease. Recent findings have revealed that the tumor microenvironment plays an essential role in promoting cancer progression and metastasis. The tumor microenvironment consists of cancer cells and several different types of normal cells recruited and reprogrammed by the cancer cells to produce factors beneficial to tumor growth and spread. These normal cells present within the tumor, along with the various extracellular matrix proteins and secreted factors, constitute the tumor stroma and can compose 10⁻60% of the tumor volume. Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are a major constituent of the tumor microenvironment, and play a critical role in promoting many aspects of tumor function. This review will describe the various hypotheses about the origin of CAFs, their major functions in the tumor microenvironment in ovarian cancer, and will discuss the potential of targeting CAFs as a possible therapeutic approach.
卵巢癌是最致命的妇科恶性肿瘤，在过去几十年里患者的预后并未得到显著改善。为了改进治疗方法和提高患者预后，迫切需要开展针对性研究以更好地了解这种疾病。最近的研究发现表明，肿瘤微环境在促进癌症进展和转移方面起着至关重要的作用。肿瘤微环境由癌细胞以及几种不同类型的正常细胞组成，这些正常细胞被癌细胞招募并重新编程，以产生有利于肿瘤生长和扩散的因子。肿瘤内的这些正常细胞，连同各种细胞外基质蛋白和分泌因子，构成了肿瘤基质，其可占肿瘤体积的10%至60%。癌症相关成纤维细胞（CAFs）是肿瘤微环境的主要组成部分，在促进肿瘤功能的许多方面发挥着关键作用。本综述将描述关于CAFs起源的各种假说、它们在卵巢癌肿瘤微环境中的主要功能，并将讨论将CAFs作为一种可能的治疗方法进行靶向治疗的潜力。
