REVIEWSINBASICANDCLINICALGASTROENTEROLOGYANDHEPATOLOGYErnstJ.KuipersandVincentW.Yang,SectionEditorsMesenchymalCellsinColonCancerVasilikiKoliaraki,1,*CharlesK.Pallangyo,2,*FlorianR.Greten,3,4andGeorgeKollias1,51BiomedicalSciencesResearchCentre“AlexanderFleming,”Vari,Greece;2MuhimbiliUniversityofHealthandAlliedSciences,SchoolofMedicine,DaresSalaam,Tanzania;3InstituteforTumorBiologyandExperimentalTherapy,Georg-Speyer-Haus,FrankfurtamMain,Germany;4GermanCancerConsortium,GermanCancerResearchCenter,Heidelberg,Germany;and5DepartmentofPhysiology,MedicalSchool,NationalandKapodistrianUniversityofAthens,Athens,GreeceMesenchymalcellsintheintestinecompriseavarietyofcelltypesofdiverseorigins,functions,andmolecularmarkers.Theyprovidemechanicalandstructuralsupportandhaveimportantfunctionsduringintestinalorgano-genesis,morphogenesis,andhomeostasis.Recentstudiesofthehumantranscriptomehaverevealedtheirimpor-tanceinthedevelopmentofcolorectalcancer,andstudiesfromanimalmodelshaveprovidedevidencefortheirrolesinthepathogenesisofcolitis-associatedcancerandsporadiccolorectalcancer.Mesenchymalcellsintumors,calledcancer-associatedfibroblasts,ariseviaactivationofresidentmesenchymalcellpopulationsandtherecruit-mentofbonemarrow–derivedmesenchymalstemcellsandfibrocytes.Cancer-associatedfibroblastshaveavarietyofactivitiesthatpromotecolontumordevelopmentandprogression;theseincluderegulationofintestinalinflam-mation,epithelialproliferation,stemcellmaintenance,angiogenesis,extracellularmatrixremodeling,andmetas-tasis.Wereviewtheintestinalmesenchymalcell-specificpathwaysthatregulatetheseprocesses,withafocusontheirrolesinmediatinginteractionsbetweeninflamma-tionandcarcinogenesis.Wealsodiscusshowincreasingourunderstandingofintestinalmesenchymalcellbiologyandfunctioncouldleadtonewstrategiestoidentifyandtreatcolitis-associatedcancers.Keywords:CAF;ColonCancer;IBD;Mesenchyme.Colorectalcancer(CRC)isoneofthemostcommonlydiagnosedcancersandoneoftheleadingcausesofcancermortalityworldwide.Itisamultifactorial...
