The Impact of Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts on Drug Resistance, Stemness, and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Bladder Cancer: A Comparison Between Recurrent and Non-Recurrent Patient-Derived Cafs Publisher Pubmed



Rastegarpouyani N¹ ; Montazeri V² ; Marandi N³ ; Aliebrahimi S² ; Andalib M⁴ ; Jafarzadeh E¹ ; Montazeri H⁴ ; Ostad SN^{1, 5}
Source: Cancer Investigation Published:2023

Abstract

This study comparatively evaluated the possible effects of recurrent and non-recurrent patient-derived Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts (CAFs-R and -NR) on the bladder cancer cell line, EJ138. Both groups of CAFs increased cisplatin resistance and altered cell cycle distribution alongside induced resistance to apoptosis. Later, the scratch assay confirmed the cell migration-inducing effects of CAFs on cells. Nonetheless, only CAFs-R managed to increase sphere-formation and clonogenic levels in EJ138 cells, which were later validated by upregulating pluripotency transcription factors. Besides, CAFs-R also affected the expression levels of some of the EMT markers. Our study suggests that CAFs-R had stronger pro-tumorigenic effects on EJ138 cells. © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.