FIGURE 2.

Potential roles of tumor-infiltrating mesenchymal stem cells in prostate cancer progression. Reciprocal interactions between the epithelium and stroma play important roles in diverse physiological and pathophysiological processes, including cancer initiation and progression. The latter is facilitated in part via inflammatory inducers and the suppression of immune surveillance. Tumor-infiltrating MSCs may play a role in cancer progression via multiple mechanisms, including stimulating angiogenesis, invasion, growth, survival, and the generation of carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), in addition to suppression of innate and adaptive anti-tumor immune responses