Last Friday, 30 April, attended a Public Lecture entitled “Tumour Microenvironment – There Goes the Neighbourhood” by Professor Stephen Stewart Prime from the Department of Oral & Dental Science, University of Bristol, UK.
One interesting observation he that pointed out during the presentation was as the epithelial cells evolve from pre-cancerous to cancerous, the fibroblasts around the tumor mass become less proliferative but more secretive, in order words, they secret more and more growth factors.
I think this phenomenon would be more interesting if we overly the properties of the epithelial cells. As they evolve from pre-cancerous to cancerous, and as they become more and more malignant, commonly, they proliferate more, while their dependency towards these growth factors decreases as well as their need to equip themselves towards these growth factors in an autocrine/ paracrine manner.
Perhaps these fibroblast and epithelial cells works symbiotically to ensure their needs for optimum survival are fulfilled.
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