Detection of Carcinoma-Associated Fibroblasts Derived from Mesothelial Cells via Mesothelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in Primary Ovarian Carcinomas

• Published in: Cancers Vol. 16; no. 15; p. 2697
• Main Authors: Tomero-Sanz, Henar, Jiménez-Heffernan, José Antonio, Fernández-Chacón, María Concepción, Cristóbal-García, Ignacio, Sainz de la Cuesta, Ricardo, González-Cortijo, Lucía, López-Cabrera, Manuel, Sandoval, Pilar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.08.2024
• Subjects: Abdomen; Adipocytes; Antibodies; Biopsy; carcinoma-associated fibroblasts; Cell activation; Cell culture; Cloning; Ethics; Fibroblasts; Laboratories; mesothelial cells; mesothelial-to-mesenchymal transition; Metastases; Metastasis; Ovarian cancer; Ovarian carcinoma; Patients; Peritoneum; primary tumor; Proteins; Scientific equipment and supplies industry; Stroma; Surgery; Tumors; Uterus; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Vascularization; California; United States; Massachusetts; Spain; Israel; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Madrid Spain; Japan; carcinoma-associated fibroblasts; primary tumor; mesothelial cells; ovarian cancer; mesothelial-to-mesenchymal transition
• ISSN: 2072-6694; 2072-6694
• DOI: 10.3390/cancers16152697

Carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are highly accumulated in the tumor-surrounding stroma of primary epithelial ovarian cancer (OC). CAFs exert important functions for the vascularization, growth, and progression of OC cells. However, the origin of CAFs in primary OC had not yet been studied, and they were assumed to arise from the activation of resident fibroblasts. Here, we compared CAFs in the ovary to CAFs found in peritoneal metastases from patients with advanced OC. Our findings show that CAFs from primary tumors and peritoneal metastases share the expression of mesothelial markers. Therefore, similar to peritoneal carcinomatosis, CAFs in primary ovarian carcinomas may originate from mesothelial cells via a mesothelial-to-mesenchymal transition. The detection of mesothelial-derived CAFs in tumors confined to the ovary and identification of biomarkers could be the key to the early detection of OC and peritoneal spread.