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. 2022 May 31;13:876291. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.876291

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Simplified scheme of stroma-mediated interaction in PDAC. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are crucial elements of the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) stroma. They include different subtypes: myofibroblastic, inflammatory, and antigen-presenting subtypes. Both cell–cell and paracrine interaction CAFs and PDAC cells are involved in manipulating the stroma. The cancer cells can induce, through transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) signaling, the surrounding CAFs to adopt a myfibroblastic phenotype. Similarly, cancer cells produce IL-1, reprogramming CAFs to inflammatory CAFs, which, in turn, produce chemokines like IL-6 and sustain cancer growth. Antigen-presenting CAFs, expressing MHC class II molecules, modulate the immune cells in the stroma. Pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) are mainly responsible for ECM deposition during PDAC, and are also able to modulate the immune response through the production and secretion of cytokines, such as CXCL12 and IL-6, negatively affecting T-cell activity and migration. Adapted from “PDAC histology” by BioRender.com (2022). Retrieved from https://app.biorender.com/biorender-templates.