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Updated: May 29, 2026

Tissue Engineering of Tumor Stromal Microenvironment with Application to Cancer Cell Invasion
Published on: March 18, 2014
Interleukin-8 derived from local tissue-resident stromal cells promotes tumor cell invasion
Gabriel Welte1, Eckhard Alt, Eswaran Devarajan
1Department of Molecular Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77054, USA.
Abstract:
The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of adipose tissue resident stromal cells on tumor cell invasion. Our data show that a subpopulation of adipose tissue derived stromal cells expressing Nestin, NG2, α-smooth muscle actin and PDGFR-α migrate toward the cancer cells. Microarray analysis revealed the upregulation of IL-8 in the migrated cells. We demonstrated that stromal cell derived IL-8 promote the invasion and the anchorage-independent growth of cancer cells. We conclude that human breast cancer cells attract a subpopulation of stromal cells that secrete IL-8 to promote tumor cell invasion in a paracrine fashion.
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