Abstract
The issue of tumour-stroma-interactions in urothelial cancinoma is reviewed and clinical correlations as well as experimental approaches to this complex topic are introduced. Stromal cells, especially carcinoma-associated fobroblasts and tumour-associated macrophages, are involved in all the aspects of tumour development, including local tumour development and progression, as well as therapeutic response.
Bladder cancer belongs to the tumour types with a rich stroma, and there are several clinical correlation published, relating the intensity and quality of stromal involvement with disease prognosis. Experimental approches to tumour-stroma interaction involve various co-culture arrangements of cancer cells and stromal cells, the latter being provided either by primary carcinoma fibroblasts or various fibroblast cell lines.
Recently, we have established a unique experimental system composed of the both carcinoma and the stromal cell line established from an individual bladder carcinoma. Using this model, we hope to obtain new molecular details of this complex interaction, with a focus on another crucial property of carcinoma-associated fibroblasts, namely the promotion of cancer stem cells.