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Maintenance of both normal epithelial tissues and their malignant counterparts is supported by the host tissue stroma. The tumor stroma mainly consists of the basement membrane, fibroblasts, extracellular matrix, immune cells, and vasculature. Although most host cells in the stroma possess certain tumor-suppressing abilities, the stroma will change during malignancy and eventually promote growth, invasion, and metastasis. Stromal changes at the invasion front include the appearance of carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). CAFs constitute a major portion of the reactive tumor stroma and play a crucial role in tumor progression. The main precursors of CAFs are normal fibroblasts, and the transdifferentiation of fibroblasts to CAFs is driven to a great extent by cancer-derived cytokines such as transforming growth factor-β. During recent years, the crosstalk between the cancer cells and the tumor stroma, highly responsible for the progression of tumors and their metastasis, has been increasingly unveiled. A better understanding of the host stroma contribution to cancer progression will increase our knowledge about the growth promoting signaling pathways and hopefully lead to novel therapeutic interventions targeting the tumor stroma. This review reports novel data on the essential crosstalk between cancer cells and cells of the tumor stroma, with an emphasis on the role played by CAFs. Furthermore, it presents recent literature on relevant tumor stroma- and CAF-related research in non-small cell lung cancer.

Original publication

DOI

10.1097/jto.0b013e3181f8a1bd

Type

Journal article

Journal

Journal of thoracic oncology : official publication of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer

Publication Date

01/2011

Volume

6

Pages

209 - 217

Addresses

Department of Oncology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway. roy.bremnes@uit.no

Keywords

Fibroblasts, Stromal Cells, Humans, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, Lung Neoplasms, Disease Progression, Prognosis