Fibroblast heterogeneity in pancreatic cancer

胰腺癌是一种致命的疾病，治疗选择有限：只有十分之一的患者存活超过5年。在胰腺癌中，最丰富的细胞是非恶性癌症相关成纤维细胞（CAF），已显示其促进癌症生长，化疗抗性和免疫系统抑制。此外，最近的证据表明，靶向CAF也可能限制胰腺癌的生长。这些研究强调需要更好地了解CAFs的性质和作用，以帮助确定新的治疗靶点。该研究项目将涉及使用小鼠模型，胰腺癌细胞作为三维类器官和CAF生长的共培养模型，以及针对这些不同细胞类型的遗传和药理学策略。总的来说，该项目将确定胰腺癌中癌细胞和CAFs之间的相互作用，旨在改善这种疾病的诊断和治疗方法。

Pancreatic cancer is a lethal disease with limited treatment options: only 1 in 10 patients survive more than 5 years. In pancreatic cancer, the most abundant cells are non-malignant cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which have been shown to promote cancer growth, chemotherapy resistance and suppression of the immune system. Furthermore, recent evidence indicates that targeting CAFs may also restrict pancreatic cancer growth. These studies underscore the need to better characterise the nature and roles of CAFs to help identify new therapeutic targets. This research project will involve the use of mouse models, co-culture models of pancreatic cancer cells grown as three-dimensional organoids and CAFs, as well as genetic and pharmacological strategies to target these different cell types. Overall, this project will determine the interplay between cancer cells and CAFs in pancreatic cancer with the aim to improve both diagnostic and treatment approaches for this disease.