Figure 2.

MSCs and tumor cells migrate towards each other. Circulating bone marrow or adipose tissue resident MSCs are recruiting to the tumor sites in the direction of multiple factors released by tumor or immune cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME). In turn, BM-MSCs could attract tumor cells into the bone morrow mediated by chemokines and their receptors. However, the subpopulation of MSCs in bone marrow inversely correlates with the cytokeratin+ cell numbers in prostate and breast cancer. Bold and thin arrows refer to cellular and molecular communications, respectively. The image was generated with Affinity Designer 1.6.1.