Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 Mar:127:111584.
doi: 10.1016/j.cellsig.2024.111584. Epub 2025 Jan 3.

The multi-faceted roles of cancer-associated fibroblasts in pancreatic cancer

John Y Kwon  1 , Renzo E Vera  2 , Martin E Fernandez-Zapico  3
Affiliations
Review

The multi-faceted roles of cancer-associated fibroblasts in pancreatic cancer

John Y Kwon et al. Cell Signal. 2025 Mar.

Abstract

The tumor microenvironment (TME) has been linked with the pathogenesis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the most common histological subtype of pancreatic cancer. A central component of the TME are cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which can either suppress or promote tumor growth in a context-dependent manner. In this review, we will discuss the multi-faceted roles of CAFs in tumor-stroma interactions influencing cancer initiation, progression and therapeutic response.

Keywords: Cancer associated fibroblasts; PDAC; Stroma; Tumor microenvironment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict with the manuscript.

References

    1. Kalluri R, The biology and function of fibroblasts in cancer. Nat Rev Cancer, 2016. 16(9): p. 582–98. - PubMed
    1. Özdemir BC, et al., Depletion of carcinoma-associated fibroblasts and fibrosis induces immunosuppression and accelerates pancreas cancer with reduced survival. Cancer Cell, 2014. 25(6): p. 719–34. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rhim AD, et al., Stromal elements act to restrain, rather than support, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Cancer Cell, 2014. 25(6): p. 735–47. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Provenzano PP, et al., Enzymatic targeting of the stroma ablates physical barriers to treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Cancer Cell, 2012. 21(3): p. 418–29. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chen K, et al., Single-cell RNA-seq reveals dynamic change in tumor microenvironment during pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma malignant progression. EBioMedicine, 2021. 66: p. 103315. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources