Internal medicine

Pathology

Tumor microenvironment

Disease

Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts

Biology

Cancer

Immunohistochemistry

Stromal cell

Immunology

Stroma

Therapeutic modalities

Tumor cells

Cancer research

Medicine

Cancer cell

Trends in cancer

The view of cancer as a tumor cell-centric disease is now replaced by our understanding of the interconnection and dependency of tumor stroma. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), the most abundant stromal cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME), are involved in anticancer therapeutic resistance. As we unearth more solid evidence on the link between CAFs and tumor progression, we gain insight into the role of CAFs in establishing resistance to cancer therapies. Herein, we review the origin, heterogeneity, and function of CAFs, with a focus on how CAF subsets can be used as biomarkers and can contribute to therapeutic resistance in cancer.

Targeting CAFs to overcome anticancer therapeutic resistance