TY  - JOUR
TI  - The stroma reaction myofibroblast:  a key player in the control of tumor cell behavior

AU  - Desmouliere, Alexis
AU  - Guyot, Christelle
AU  - Gabbiani, Giulio
T2  - The International Journal of Developmental Biology
AB  - The cooperation between epithelial and mesenchymal cells is essential for 
embryonic development and probably plays an important role in pathological phenomena such as 
wound healing and tumor progression. It is well known that many epithelial tumors are characterized 
by the local accumulation of connective tissue cells and extracellular material; this phenomenon 
has been called the stroma reaction. One of the cellular components of the stroma reaction is 
the myofibroblast, a modulated fibroblast which has acquired the capacity to neoexpress 
α-smooth muscle actin, the actin isoform typical of vascular smooth muscle cells, and to synthesize important amounts of collagen and other extracellular matrix components. It is now well accepted that the myofibroblast is a key cell for the connective tissue remodeling which takes place during wound healing and fibrosis development. Myofibrobasts are capable of remodeling connective tissue but also interact with epithelial cells and other connective tissue cells and may thus control such phenomena as tumor invasion and angiogenesis. In this review we discuss the mechanisms of myofibroblast evolution during fibrotic and malignant conditions and the interaction 
of myofibroblasts with other cells in order to control tumor progression. On this basis we suggest 
that the myofibroblast may represent a new important target of antitumor therapy.

PY  - 2004
DO  - 10.1387/ijdb.041802ad
VL  - 48
IS  - 5-6
SP  - 509
EP  - 517
J2  - Int. J. Dev. Biol.
LA  - en
SN  - 0214-6282
SN  - 1696-3547
UR  - https://ijdb.ehu.eus/article/041802ad
Y2  - 2024/11/05/15:22:21
ER  -