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Table 1 Commonly used CAF markers, their cellular origins and functions

From: Cancer-associated fibroblasts: an emerging target of anti-cancer immunotherapy

Marker

Cell origins

Immune functions

Tumorigenic functions

Refs

α-SMA

Normal fibroblasts, quiescent stellate cells

Macrophage recruitment and M2 polarization, MDSCs and Tregs recruitment and differentiation, T cell anergy, NK cell inactivation, DCs tolerance and immaturation, TH2 and N2 polarization

Immuno-suppression, ECM remodeling, tumor cell proliferation, metabolic reprogramming, cancer stemness

[5, 7, 8, 49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76,77,78,79,80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89,90]

FAP

Normal fibroblasts, quiescent stellate cells

T cell anergy, NK cells inactivation, TH2 polarization, MDSCs and Tregs recruitment

Immuno-suppression, ECM remodeling, tumor progression and metastasis

[8, 10, 40, 41, 97,98,99,100,101,102,103]

S100A4

Epithelial cells, endothelial cells

Macrophage recruitment and M2 polarization

Immuno-suppression, ECM remodeling, carcinogenesis

[106]

PDGFRα/β

Normal fibroblasts, BMSCs, pericytes, vascular smooth muscular cells

T cell anergy and apoptosis

Immuno-suppression, tumor growth

[105]

PDPN

Epithelial cells

T cell anergy, macrophage recruitment and M2 polarization, Tregs recruitment

Immuno-suppression, tumor growth

[107, 108]

CD90

 

T cell exhaustion

Immuno-suppression, tumor cell migration

[83, 84]

Collagen I

Fibroblasts, vascular smooth muscular cells

Macrophage recruitment and M2 polarization

Immuno-suppression, ECM remodeling, angiogenesis

[111]

  1. α-SMA α-smooth muscle actin. FAP fibroblast activation protein, PDGFRα/β platelet derived growth factor receptor-α/β, PDPN podoplanin, MDSCs myeloid-derived suppressor cell, Tregs regulatory T cell, NK cells natural killer cells, N2 type2 neutrophils, DC dendritic cell, ECM extracellular matrix