Tumor suppression by stromal TIMPs

Abstract

The tumor stroma has the capacity to drive cancer progression, although the mechanisms governing these effects are incompletely understood. Recently, we reported that deletion of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (Timps) in fibroblasts unleashes the function of cancer-associated fibroblasts and identifies a novel mode of stromal–tumor communication that activates key oncogenic pathways invoving Notch and ras homolog gene family, member A (RhoA) via stromal exosomes.