Comparative transcriptome of normal and cancer- associated fibroblasts

Abstract The characteristics of a tumor are largely determined by its interaction with the surrounding micro-environment (TME). TME consists of both cellular and non-cellular components. Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are a major component of the TME. They are a source of many secreted factors that influence the survival and progression of tumors as well as their response to drugs. Identification of markers either overexpressed in CAFs or unique to CAFs would pave the way for novel therapeutic strategies that would combine conventional chemotherapy and TME-targeted therapy for a better outcome. We have used fibroblast derived from Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer to perform a transcriptome analysis in order to get a comparative profile of normal and cancer-associated fibroblasts. This has identified 818 differentially expressed mRNAs and 17 lincRNAs between normal and cancer-associated fibroblasts.