Accumulated clinical and experimental evidence have revealed that tumor development is intimately related to the complex interactions of the tumor with surrounding stromal cells, including inflammatory cells, vascular cells, and fibroblasts. Fibroblasts represent the major cellular component of cancer-associated stroma and contribute to tumor growth and metastasis through their involvement in angiogenesis, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and synthesis, deposition and remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM).

In this report, we tested the hypothesis that fibroblasts isolated from different zones of breast tumor tissue contribute distinctive microenvironmental influences on breast cancer cells.

Taken together, these findings indicate that INFs isolated from the tumor interface zone exhibited more robust biological modulatory activity than did NFs and CAFs isolated from normal and tumor zones of the same tumor tissue, suggesting that the interface zone of the tumor represents a dynamic region vital to tumor progression.

Results (I) : Comparison of primary fibroblasts isolated from different zones of human breast tumor tissue 

Results (II) :INFs induce an EMT state in MCF7 cells in an in vitro co-culture model

Results (III ): MMPs and ERK are involved in the EMT process induced by co-culture