Stroma in normal and cancer wound healing
Open accessAbstract
It is currently believed that stroma, the connective framework of biological tissues, plays a central role in normal wound healing and in cancer. In both these contexts, stromal cellular components such as activated fibroblasts interact with complex protein networks that include growth factors, structural protein or proteinases in order to initiate and sustain an extensive remodelling process. However, although this process is usually spatially and temporally self-limited, it is unregulated in the case of cancer and leads to uncontrolled cell proliferation and invasion within tissues, metastasis and therapeutic resistance. In this review, we outline the role of stroma in normal healing, cancer and post radiotherapy, with a particular focus on the crosstalk between normal or cancer cells and fibroblasts. Understanding these mechanisms is particularly important as several stromal components have been proposed as potential therapeutic targets.
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Tumor-associated stroma actively facilitates tumor initiation, invasion, and therapeutic resistance through biochemical and biomechanical means.
“While stroma in normal tissues may possess anti-tumor properties, tumor-associated stroma—comprising cancer-associated fibroblasts, ECM, endothelial cells, and immune cells—actively facilitates tumor initiation, invasion, and therapeutic resistance [139,140,141,142].”
From Modeling Tumor Microenvironment Complexity In Vitro: Spheroids as Physiologically Relevant Tumor Models and Strategies for Their Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [140]
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- Authors
- Huet, E., Jaroz, C., Nguyen, H. Q., Belkacemi, Y., de la Taille, A., Stavrinides, V., & Whitaker, H.
- Affiliations
- Inserm (FR)
- Université Paris-Est Créteil (FR)
- INSERM, U955, Equipe 7 Créteil France
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Huet, Eric
- Venue
- The FEBS Journal
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-04-15
- Volume
- 286
- Issue
- 15
- Pages
- 2909-2920
- ISSN
- 1742-464X (ISSN-L)
- 1742-4658
- OpenAlex
- W2936874593
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 5
- FWCI
- 0.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- FEBS Journal (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- University College London
- Medical Research Council (MR/S005897/1)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Rehabilitation › Wound Healing and Treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Cells and Metastasis
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Hepatology › Liver physiology and pathology
- Keywords
- tumor stroma, wound healing, cancer, activated fibroblasts, extracellular matrix remodeling, growth factors, proteolytic enzymes, metastasis, treatment resistance, radiotherapy
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Connective Tissue, Humans, Neoplasms, Radiation Injuries, Radiotherapy, Wound Healing, Signal Transduction, Extracellular Matrix Proteins
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