ABSTRACT
The incidence of pancreatic cancer is increasing year by year, but the clinical diagnosis and treatment progress is limited and the prognosis is poor. Tumor microenvironment (TME) is closely related to the invasion, metastasis and chemotherapy resistance of pancreatic cancer. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are fibroblasts in a state of continuous activation, which are the most prominent components in TME. CAFs can promote the malignant biological behavior of pancreatic cancer through a variety of molecule-mediated mechanisms. Moreover, several attempts targeting CAFs for the treatment of pancreatic cancer have been largely unsuccessful. It may be related to the heterogeneity of CAFs in pancreatic cancer. Therefore, in-depth study of its heterogeneity and accurate targeting of some specific phenotypes and functional CAFs subtypes in the matrix on this basis may be more promising in the clinical treatment of pancreatic cancer.