Fibroblasts, generally, are cells that synthesize extracellular matrix and collagen, thereby providing the structure for animal tissues. Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are often present in the tumor microenvironment and have been implicated in angiogenesis. The authors cite a study in which CAFs released CXCL12 into the bloodstream in a breast tumor xenograft model. CXCL12 can recruit bone marrow derived cells to the tumor microenvironment.
Pre-metastatic niches are essentially pre-determined cites that have no implanted tumor cells yet, but have been tagged with markers that will allow tumor cell localization and metastasis. A study cited by McAllister and Weinberg showed that tumor-derived VEFG-A and P1GF could recruit bone marrow cells not only to the tumor sites, but also to the lungs, which in this case was tumor free at that point but later gained tumor cells. Upon implementation of these bone marrow derived cells, the lung fibroblasts upregulated expression of fibronectin, thereby recruiting more bone marrow cells.
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