Detailed comparative analysis of at first sight not related process cascades is a means toward this aim: to trace common effector mechanisms and hereby eventually inspire innovative routes for therapeutic management. Following this concept, promotion of tumor progression by stroma, especially cancer-associated fibroblasts and smooth muscle actin-positive myofibroblasts, and beneficial activity of respective cells in wound healing have helped to delineate the involvement of endogenous lectins of the family of galectins. In addition to initiating conversion of fibroblasts to myofibroblasts, galectin-1 instructs the cells to produce a structurally complex extracellular matrix. This bioscaffold is useful for keratinocyte culture, also apparently operative in ameliorating wound healing. These functional aspects encourage to study in detail how lectin-(glycan) counterreceptor display is orchestrated. Such insights are assumed to have potential to contribute to rationally manipulate stem/precursor cells as resource in regenerative medicine.

Charles University 1st Faculty of Medicine Institute of Anatomy and Department of Dermatovenerology Prague Czech Republic

Charles University 1st Faculty of Medicine Institute of Anatomy Prague Czech Republic

Charles University 1st Faculty of Medicine Institute of Anatomy Prague Czech Republic East Slovak Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases Department for Biomedical Research Košice and Pavol Jozef Šafárik University Faculty of Medicine Department of Pharmacology Košice Slovak Republic

Ludwig Maximilians University Munich Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Institute of Physiological Chemistry Munich Germany

References provided by Crossref.org

Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Influence the Biological Properties of Malignant Tumours via Paracrine Secretion and Exosome Production

IL-6 in the Ecosystem of Head and Neck Cancer: Possible Therapeutic Perspectives

Interleukin-6: Molecule in the Intersection of Cancer, Ageing and COVID-19

Aesculus hippocastanum L. Extract Does Not Induce Fibroblast to Myofibroblast Conversion but Increases Extracellular Matrix Production In Vitro Leading to Increased Wound Tensile Strength in Rats

The Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Microenvironment as a Potential Target for Cancer Therapy

How Signaling Molecules Regulate Tumor Microenvironment: Parallels to Wound Repair

Intercellular crosstalk in human malignant melanoma

Functional differences between neonatal and adult fibroblasts and keratinocytes: Donor age affects epithelial-mesenchymal crosstalk in vitro

Pharmacological activation of estrogen receptors-α and -β differentially modulates keratinocyte differentiation with functional impact on wound healing

Cancer Microenvironment: What Can We Learn from the Stem Cell Niche

Soy and breast cancer: focus on angiogenesis