Cafs In Cancer

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Introduction
The formation of tumor starts from mutations in genes, which produce abnormal cells, these grow in numbers forming mass of cells. Further development can cause invasion and metastasis of cancer in other organs, causing harm to human body. Cancer is the second largest cause of death in the world (WHO, 2015). Therefore, since decades, enormous research have been going on to find a valid cure for it. The treatments that have been developed until now, are not powerful enough to defeat malignant cancer. The formation of malignant cancer convolves many epigenetic, genetic and biochemical changes within the cell (Lopez et al., 2011). The studies on mechanisms of cancer have suggested that for tumor malignancy, tumor cells are not solely …show more content…
CAFs in cancer help in promoting the carcinogenic process by remodeling, synthesis and deposition of ECM in tumor stroma and they also participate in tumor cell growth. There is experimental evidence proving, the contribution of fibroblast for tumor invasion and epithelial transformation. For example, to demonstrate the role of fibroblasts in epithelial cancer, the normal mammary epithelial cells were transplanted into the fat pads of a mice which included irradiated fibroblasts. The results showed an increase of breast cancer in mice. But, when the same experiment was conducted using non-irradiated fibroblasts, no variations were shown (Barcellos-Hoff and Ravani, 2000; Weber and Kuo, 2012). The results from co-culture and reconstitution experiments also provide evidence of CAFs association with cancer. However, the exact function and methodologies of CAFs in tumor progression have not been understood (Kalluri and Zeisberg, …show more content…
(2006) and Ozbek et al. (2010) define the concept of extracellular matrix (ECM). ECM is an important component of TME, studies suggest that for tumor invasion the degradation of ECM is required. The degradation of ECM occurs due to myofibroblasts (these secrete proteins for the degradation). The ECM is made up of proteins, glycoproteins, proteoglycans, collagen, elastin and polysaccharides Epithelial, endothelial, stroma cells and ECM make up the basement membrane, which is to keep stroma region separated from endothelium and interstitial matrix. The main function of ECM is to assist tumor, separating two types of tissue, and controlling intercellular communication. It also acts as a storage for growth factors, alterations in physiological conditions can cause the release of growth factors, for example, in tumorigenesis, promoting excessive growth of cells. In tumor metastasis and invasion, the ECM gets usually degraded (Lu, Weaver, and Werb, 2012). Therefore, investigating why ECM gets degraded can help understand the process of tumor metastasis and invasion. The organizations of ECM are highly controlled, although, in cancerous conditions the regulatory system of ECM is lost, leading to disorganization and changes in the function of ECM. This is mostly due to tumor associated cells, such as, stromal cell, CAFs and immune cells (Moses and Bhowmick, Neilson, 2004; Orimo et al., 2005). When an ECM is transformed into abnormal ECM it can increase tissue
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