Figure 2.

Role of CAFs in GC stroma. Compared with normal GC tissues, GC cancer stroma contains many CAFs and secretes various functional molecules. CAFs promote angiogenesis by secreting VEGF, and promote GC cell proliferation and metastasis by secreting SDF-1 and TGF-β1, respectively. Therefore, the direct action of CAFs may be able to mediate the infiltration of immune cells into the cancer stroma for a sustained anticancer immune response. CAFs, cancer-associated fibroblasts; GC, gastric cancer; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; SDF-1, stromal cell-derived factor 1; TGF-β1, transforming growth factor β1; CXCR4, C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4; EMT, epithelial-mesenchymal transition; DCs, dendritic cells.