Therapeutic potential of targeting cancer-associated fibroblasts in esophageal cancer

Advances in molecular and cellular biochemistry, such as the development of targeted cancer therapy, have dramatically improved the prognosis of cancer patients. Emerging data have suggested that bevacizumab treatment may act by controlling the cancer microenvironment. Many reports have examined the interaction of cancer cells with the tumor microenvironment, and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF5) are thought to play a central role in this process. We speculated that the cancer microenvironment and in particular, CAFs, strongly influence the development of esophageal cancer. We have analyzed the signaling pathways of molecular targets. However, inhibition of a single signaling pathway is insufficient to treat cancer effectively. Photoimmunotherapy is a molecular-targeted specific cancer therapy using near-infrared radiation, which was introduced by Mitsunaga et al. in 2011. We are using its specific method of killing cells to target CAFs. We will report the results of its effect on cancer cells in the future.