Fig. 2

The extracellular matrix during tumor progression. As the cancer cells invade the basement membrane (BM) the interstitial matrix (IM) becomes more and more desmoplastic characterized by an increased activity of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and augmented volume of cross-linked type I, II, III, V, VI, XI, XXIV and XXVII collagens. In the later stages of tumor progression, desmoplasia pre-dominate the tumor microenvironment with signals from CAFs and IM collagens stimulating and sustaining the tumor progression