Open Access

REVIEW

Cancer-associated fibroblasts of colorectal cancer: Translational prospects in liquid biopsy and targeted therapy

ELYN AMIELA SALLEH¹, YEONG YEH LEE², ANDEE DZULKARNAEN ZAKARIA³, NUR ASYILLA CHE JALIL⁴, MARAHAINI MUSA^1,*

1 Human Genome Centre, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150, Malaysia
2 Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150, Malaysia
3 Department of Surgery, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150, Malaysia
4 Department of Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150, Malaysia

* Corresponding Author: MARAHAINI MUSA. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Frontiers in cancer: tumor microenvironment)

BIOCELL 2023, 47(10), 2233-2244. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2023.030541

Received 12 April 2023; Accepted 01 June 2023; Issue published 08 November 2023

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major global health concern. Accumulation of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in CRC is associated with poor prognosis and disease recurrence. CAFs are the main cellular component of the tumor microenvironment. CAF-tumor cell interplay, which is facilitated by various secretomes, drives colorectal carcinogenesis. The complexity of CAF populations contributes to the heterogeneity of CRC and influences patient survival and treatment response. Due to their significant roles in colorectal carcinogenesis, different clinical applications utilizing or targeting CAFs have been suggested. Circulating CAFs (cCAFs) which can be detected in blood samples, have been proposed to help in determining patient prognosis and enables the detection of cancer through liquid biopsy. Liquid biopsy is gaining traction as it is non-invasive, allows frequent and easy sampling, and shows concordance to tissue biopsy analysis. In addition, CAF-targeted therapy is currently being studied extensively to be used as one of the treatment avenues for CRC. Various mechanisms of CAF-targeted therapy have been reported, including blocking the signaling pathways involving CAFs and cancer cells, thus abolishing the CAF-tumor cell crosstalk and subsequently hindering tumorigenesis. These translational applications of cCAFs and utilization of CAFs as key targets for CRC therapy, although still in the early phases of development, will potentially improve CRC patient management in the future.

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