Figure 3.

The roles of tumor microenvironment in lncRNAs-mediated cancer stemness and therapy resistance. The components of tumor microenvironment such as CAFs, MSCs and TAMs can secret lncRNAs in exosomes or up-regulate lncRNAs expressions in cancer cells. This crosstalk of tumor microenvironment and cancer cells induced metabolic reprogramming, β-catenin pathway activation, MAPK pathway activation or epithelial to mesenchymal transition, which confers cancer cells stemness and increased drug resistance.