The Tohoku journal of experimental medicine
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Tohoku J. Exp. Med. · Mar 1999
ReviewPathophysiologic significance of host reactions in human cancer tissue: desmoplasia and tumor immunity.
Invasive growth of malignant cells, particularly carcinoma cells, induces host reaction within and around tumor tissue. Representatives of them are desmoplasia, angiogenesis and immune reactions. Desmoplasia, a process of fibrosis, is induced by activation of fibroblasts with increased production of matrix proteins and matrix degrading enzymes. ⋯ T-cells were co-localized with these cells. Clinicopathologic analysis confirmed that CD8+ T-cells distributed within cancer cell nest (intraepithelial) have the most significant impact on the patients' survival in colorectal cancer. These data suggest that various host reactions take place in the stroma of cancer tissue, which modulate the biologic behavior of cancer.