Fibroblast heterogeneity in pancreatic cancer

胰腺癌是一种致命的疾病，治疗选择有限：每10名患者中只有1人存活超过5年。在胰腺癌中，最丰富的细胞是非恶性肿瘤相关成纤维细胞(CAF)，它们已被证明促进肿瘤生长、化疗耐药和抑制免疫系统。此外，最近的证据表明，靶向CAF也可能限制胰腺癌的生长。这些研究强调了需要更好地描述CAF的性质和作用，以帮助确定新的治疗靶点。这项研究项目将涉及使用小鼠模型、以三维有机物和CAF生长的胰腺癌细胞的共培养模型，以及针对这些不同细胞类型的遗传和药理学策略。总体而言，该项目将确定胰腺癌中癌细胞和CAF之间的相互作用，目的是改进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.