Cancer-associated fibroblasts in digestive tumors

Figure 1 Hepatocellular carcinoma-associated cancer-associated fibroblasts and hepatocellular carcinoma cells. A: The distribution of H-CAFs identified by α-SMA (+) expression in a HCC specimen is detected by immunohistochemistry. Expression of α-SMA (shown in brown color) is detected to confirm the presence of H-CAFs, which are abundant in tumor tissue; B: The presence of H-CAFs in HCC tissue demonstrated by immunofluorescence. The blue color indicates HCC nucleus, and the green H-CAFs with α-SMA stained. CAFs are circulating the cancer nests in the malignant tissue. HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; H-CAF: HCC-associated cancer-associated fibroblasts; α-SMA: α-smooth muscle actin.