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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Heteromulticellular Stromal Cells in Scaffold-free 3D Cultures of Epithelial Cancer Cells to Drive Invasion
Published on: April 4, 2025
Coevolution of cancer and stromal cellular responses
Laurie E Littlepage1, Mikala Egeblad, Zena Werb
1Department of Anatomy, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Abstract:
It is now becoming apparent that multiple types of stromal cells, including macrophages, mast cells, adipocytes, and fibroblasts make pivotal contributions to carcinogenesis. In the May 6 issue of Cell, Orimo and colleagues (Orimo et al., 2005) show that carcinoma-associated fibroblasts can promote epithelial tumorigenesis by secreting the chemokine SDF-1alpha (CXCL12). SDF-1alpha stimulates carcinoma cell proliferation and recruitment of endothelial precursor cells.
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