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Review
. 2024 Jan 21;25(2):1300.
doi: 10.3390/ijms25021300.

Cancer-Associated Fibroblast Heterogeneity in Malignancy with Focus on Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Julia Arebro  1   2   3 , Che-Min Lee  1   4 , Kevin L Bennewith  1   4   5 , Cathie Garnis  1   4   6
Affiliations
Review

Cancer-Associated Fibroblast Heterogeneity in Malignancy with Focus on Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Julia Arebro et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remains an understudied and significant global cancer killer and dismal survival rates have not changed in decades. A better understanding of the molecular basis of OSCC progression and metastasis is needed to develop new approaches for treating this disease. The supportive network surrounding cancer tumor cells known as the tumor microenvironment (TME) has gained increasing interest lately since it performs essential protumorigenic functions. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are one of the main cell types in the TME and are known to play a key role in influencing the biological behavior of tumors. CAFs present a heterogeneity both in phenotype as well as functions, leading to the suggestion of different CAF subtypes in several cancer forms. The task to subtype CAFs in OSCC has, however, just begun, and there is today no united way of subtyping CAFs in this disease. This review aims to define the features of CAFs and to summarize CAF subtype research in malignancy with focus on OSCC including aspects as disease prognosis and therapeutic opportunities.

Keywords: CAF subtype; cancer-associated fibroblast; oral squamous cell carcinoma; tumor microenvironment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CAF subtypes detected in several cancer forms including OSCC and their possible functions and pathways driving tumor progression. Abbreviations: myofibroblastic CAF (myCAF), inflammatory CAF (iCAF), antigen-presenting CAF (apCAF).
Figure 2
Figure 2
CAF-related therapeutics.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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