Molecular Disease Mechanisms Group, Life Sciences Research Unit, University of Luxembourg, Belvaux, Luxembourg.
Int J Cancer. 2020 Feb 15;146(4):895-905. doi: 10.1002/ijc.32193. Epub 2019 Feb 28.
The tumor microenvironment has been identified as one of the driving factors of tumor progression and invasion. Inside this microenvironment, cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), a type of perpetually activated fibroblasts, have been implicated to have a strong tumor-modulating effect and play a key role in areas such as drug resistance. Identification of CAFs has typically been carried based on the expression of various "CAF markers", such as fibroblast activation protein alpha (FAP) and alpha smooth muscle actin (αSMA), which separates them from the larger pool of fibroblasts present in the body. However, as outlined in this Review, the expression of various commonly used fibroblast markers is extremely heterogeneous and varies strongly between different CAF subpopulations. As such, novel selection methods based on cellular function, as well as further characterizing research, are vital for the standardization of CAF identification in order to improve the cross-applicability of different research studies in the field. The aim of this review is to give a thorough overview of the commonly used fibroblast markers in the field and their various strengths and, more importantly, their weaknesses, as well as to highlight potential future avenues for CAF identification and targeting.
肿瘤微环境已被确定为肿瘤进展和侵袭的驱动因素之一。在这个微环境中，癌症相关成纤维细胞（CAF），一种持续激活的成纤维细胞，被认为具有很强的肿瘤调节作用，并在耐药等方面发挥关键作用。CAF 的鉴定通常基于各种“CAF 标志物”的表达，如成纤维细胞激活蛋白α（FAP）和α平滑肌肌动蛋白（αSMA），这些标志物将它们与体内大量存在的成纤维细胞区分开来。然而，正如本综述所概述的，各种常用的成纤维细胞标志物的表达极其异质，并且在不同的 CAF 亚群之间差异很大。因此，基于细胞功能的新型选择方法以及进一步的特征研究对于 CAF 鉴定的标准化至关重要，以提高该领域不同研究的交叉适用性。本综述的目的是全面概述该领域中常用的成纤维细胞标志物及其各自的优势，更重要的是，它们的弱点，并强调 CAF 鉴定和靶向的潜在未来途径。
