Review
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World J Gastroenterol. Mar 21, 2022; 28(11): 1088-1101
Published online Mar 21, 2022. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i11.1088
B cells in pancreatic cancer stroma
Francesca Romana Delvecchio, Michelle R Goulart, Rachel Elizabeth Ann Fincham, Michele Bombadieri, Hemant M Kocher
Francesca Romana Delvecchio, Michele Bombadieri, William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London EC1M 6BQ, United Kingdom
Francesca Romana Delvecchio, Michelle R Goulart, Rachel Elizabeth Ann Fincham, Hemant M Kocher, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London EC1M 6BQ, United Kingdom
Hemant M Kocher, Barts and the London HPB Centre, Barts Health NHS Trust, London E1 1BB, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Delvecchio FR review the literature, Delvecchio FR and Kocher HM drafted the original manuscript; Delvecchio FR composed the original figures; Delvecchio FR, Goulart MR, Fincham REA, Bombardieri M and Kocher HM contributed to the review and editing of the manuscript.
Supported by Francesca Romana Delvecchio is supported by Cancer Research UK Post-doctoral fellowship; Michelle Goulart is supported by PCRF post-doctoral fellowship; Rachel Elizabeth Ann Fincham is supported by PhD studentship awarded by Barts Charity (London, UK) and A*STAR (Singapore).
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hemant M Kocher, FRCS (Gen Surg), MBBS, MD, MS, Professor, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6BQ, London, United Kingdom. h.kocher@qmul.ac.uk
Received: April 9, 2021
Peer-review started: April 9, 2021
Revised: May 18, 2021
Accepted: February 19, 2022
Article in press: February 19, 2022
Published online: March 21, 2022
Processing time: 341 Days and 7 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: The role of B cells in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma tumorigenesis is controversial. Human studies show clusters of B cells, interacting with other immune cells, forming active sites of the immune response, called tertiary lymphoid structures. In vitro experiments and in vivo studies using B-cell deficient mice suggest the role of an immuno-suppressive B cell phenotype to induce tumour-progression. These discordant findings highlight the need of further studies using better murine models to recapitulate pancreatic cancer and its immune infiltrate.