Shi Xin, Zhu Weixiong, Zhang Jianpeng, Fan Chuanlei, Zhang Jing
Department of Oncology, Taizhou Second People's Hospital Affiliated to Yangzhou University, Taizhou, Jiangsu, China.
The Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
Front Immunol. 2025 Jul 18;16:1620075. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1620075. eCollection 2025.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a globally prevalent malignancy. This disease often progresses rapidly, resulting in many patients being diagnosed at a late stage, making early detection and intervention a major clinical challenge. Postoperative recurrence and metastasis rates remain significantly high, and no effective prevention strategies are currently available. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are essential components in the reorganization of the tumor microenvironment (TME), as they can modulate cancer cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and chemoresistance through diverse mechanisms or signaling pathways, including the release of cytokines, remodeling of the extracellular matrix, and the evasion of the immune response. This review offers a detailed overview of the cellular origins, subtype diversity, and functional differences among CAFs. In addition, it depicts the expression profiles of key markers in various CAF subtypes and clarifies essential signaling pathways and mechanisms of CAFs. Additionally, we discuss current and future therapeutic strategies targeting CAFs in the context of HCC. This review provides critical insights into future studies on novel therapeutic approaches for CAFs.
肝细胞癌（HCC）是一种在全球范围内普遍存在的恶性肿瘤。这种疾病通常进展迅速，导致许多患者在晚期才被诊断出来，这使得早期检测和干预成为一项重大的临床挑战。术后复发和转移率仍然显著较高，目前尚无有效的预防策略。癌症相关成纤维细胞（CAFs）是肿瘤微环境（TME）重塑的重要组成部分，因为它们可以通过多种机制或信号通路调节癌细胞的增殖、迁移、侵袭和化疗耐药性，包括细胞因子的释放、细胞外基质的重塑以及免疫反应的逃避。本综述详细概述了CAFs的细胞起源、亚型多样性和功能差异。此外，它描绘了各种CAF亚型中关键标志物的表达谱，并阐明了CAFs的重要信号通路和机制。此外，我们在HCC的背景下讨论了针对CAFs的当前和未来治疗策略。本综述为未来关于CAFs新型治疗方法的研究提供了关键见解。
