Fernández-Nogueira Patricia, Fuster Gemma, Gutierrez-Uzquiza Álvaro, Gascón Pere, Carbó Neus, Bragado Paloma
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biomedicine, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Barcelona (IBUB), 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
Department of Biomedicine, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
Cancers (Basel). 2021 Jun 23;13(13):3146. doi: 10.3390/cancers13133146.
Breast cancer (BrCa) is the leading cause of death among women worldwide, with about one million new cases diagnosed each year. In spite of the improvements in diagnosis, early detection and treatment, there is still a high incidence of mortality and failure to respond to current therapies. With the use of several well-established biomarkers, such as hormone receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2), as well as genetic analysis, BrCa patients can be categorized into multiple subgroups: Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2-enriched, and Basal-like, with specific treatment strategies. Although chemotherapy and targeted therapies have greatly improved the survival of patients with BrCa, there is still a large number of patients who relapse or who fail to respond. The role of the tumor microenvironment in BrCa progression is becoming increasingly understood. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are the principal population of stromal cells in breast tumors. In this review, we discuss the current understanding of CAFs' role in altering the tumor response to therapeutic agents as well as in fostering metastasis in BrCa. In addition, we also review the available CAFs-directed molecular therapies and their potential implications for BrCa management.
乳腺癌是全球女性死亡的主要原因，每年约有100万新病例被诊断出来。尽管在诊断、早期检测和治疗方面有所改进，但死亡率仍然很高，且对当前治疗方法无反应的情况仍然存在。通过使用几种成熟的生物标志物，如激素受体和人表皮生长因子受体2（HER2），以及基因分析，乳腺癌患者可被分为多个亚组：管腔A型、管腔B型、HER2富集型和基底样型，并采用特定的治疗策略。尽管化疗和靶向治疗大大提高了乳腺癌患者的生存率，但仍有大量患者复发或无反应。肿瘤微环境在乳腺癌进展中的作用越来越被人们所理解。癌症相关成纤维细胞（CAFs）是乳腺肿瘤中基质细胞的主要群体。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了目前对CAFs在改变肿瘤对治疗药物的反应以及促进乳腺癌转移方面作用的理解。此外，我们还综述了现有的针对CAFs的分子疗法及其对乳腺癌治疗的潜在意义。
