Published in:
01-10-2015 | Review and Perspectives
Cancer-associated fibroblasts as target and tool in cancer therapeutics and diagnostics
Authors:
Elly De Vlieghere, Laurine Verset, Pieter Demetter, Marc Bracke, Olivier De Wever
Published in:
Virchows Archiv
|
Issue 4/2015
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Abstract
Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are drivers of tumour progression and are considered as a target and a tool in cancer diagnostic and therapeutic applications. An increased abundance of CAFs or CAF signatures are recognized as a bad prognostic marker in several cancer types. Tumour-environment biomimetics strongly improve our understanding of the communication between CAFs, cancer cells and other host cells. Several experimental drugs targeting CAFs are in clinical trials for multiple tumour entities; alternatively, CAFs can be exploited as a tool to characterize the functionality of circulating tumour cells or to capture them as a tool to prevent metastasis. The continuous interaction between tissue engineers, biomaterial experts and cancer researchers creates the possibility to biomimic the tumour-environment and provides new opportunities in cancer diagnostics and management.