Expression Signature and Regulatory Role of miRNAs in Hepatocellular Carcinoma-Induced Cancer Associated Fibroblasts

The study aims to assess the influence of soluble factors from HCC on MSCs and to investigate the regulatory effect of miRNAs in human adipose- MSCs (hA-MSCs) cultured in HCC microenvironment.The results suggest an interaction between tumor cells and the surrounding stromal components and provide evidence to the direct generation of CAF phenotype upon exposure of hA-MSCs to Huh-7 cancer microenvironment, favoring cancer progression. This might shed the light on the fate of hA-MSCs use in therapy in HCC. hA-MSCs modulation may be achieved via dysregulation of miR17-5P and 615-5p expression. These data suggest that miRNAs may present a new target for HCC treatment.