Browsing by Subject "Cancer-associated fibroblasts"

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    Cytokine Interaction With Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts in Esophageal Cancer
    (Sage, 2022) Hassan, Md Sazzad; Cwidak, Nicholas; Awasthi, Niranjan; von Holzen, Urs; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Esophageal cancer (EC) is a highly aggressive cancer with poor outcomes under current treatment regimens. More recent findings suggest stroma elements, specifically cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), play a role in disease occurrence and progression. Cancer-associated fibroblasts are largely the product of converted fibroblasts, but a variety of other local cell types including epithelial cells, endothelial cells, and mesenchymal cells have also been shown to transform to CAFs under the correct conditions. Cancer-associated fibroblasts primarily function in the communication between the tumor microenvironment and cancer cells via cytokine and chemokine secretions that accentuate immunosuppression and cancer growth. Cancer-associated fibroblasts also pose issues for EC treatment by contributing to resistance of current chemotherapeutics like cisplatin. Targeting this cell type directly proves difficult given the heterogeneity between CAFs subpopulations, but emerging research provides hope that treatment is on the horizon. This review aims to unravel some of the complexities surrounding CAFs' impact on EC growth and therapy.
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    Integrating single-cell and spatial transcriptomics reveals endoplasmic reticulum stress-related CAF subpopulations associated with chordoma progression
    (Oxford University Press, 2024) Zhang, Tao-Lan; Xia, Chao; Zheng, Bo-Wen; Hu, Hai-Hong; Jiang, Ling-Xiang; Escobar, David; Zheng, Bo-Yv; Chen, Tian-Dong; Li, Jing; Lv, Guo-Hua; Huang, Wei; Yan, Yi-Guo; Zou, Ming-Xiang; Radiation Oncology, School of Medicine
    Background: With cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) as the main cell type, the rich myxoid stromal components in chordoma tissues may likely contribute to its development and progression. Methods: Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), spatial transcriptomics, bulk RNA-seq, and multiplexed quantitative immunofluorescence (QIF) were used to dissect the heterogeneity, spatial distribution, and clinical implication of CAFs in chordoma. Results: We sequenced here 72 097 single cells from 3 primary and 3 recurrent tumor samples, as well as 3 nucleus pulposus samples as controls using scRNA-seq. We identified a unique cluster of CAF in recurrent tumors that highly expressed hypoxic genes and was functionally enriched in endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS). Pseudotime trajectory and cell communication analyses showed that this ERS-CAF subpopulation originated from normal fibroblasts and widely interacted with tumoral and immune cells. Analyzing the bulk RNA-seq data from 126 patients, we found that the ERS-CAF signature score was associated with the invasion and poor prognosis of chordoma. By integrating the results of scRNA-seq with spatial transcriptomics, we demonstrated the existence of ERS-CAF in chordoma tissues and revealed that this CAF subtype displayed the most proximity to its surrounding tumor cells. In subsequent QIF validation involving 105 additional patients, we confirmed that ERS-CAF was abundant in the chordoma microenvironment and located close to tumor cells. Furthermore, both ERS-CAF density and its distance to tumor cells were correlated with tumor malignant phenotype and adverse patient outcomes. Conclusions: These findings depict the CAF landscape for chordoma and may provide insights into the development of novel treatment approaches.