Evaluation of the expression of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts in the stroma of gastric cancer tissue.

Aim: Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) generated by bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) play an important role in cancer progression. In this study, we investigated the relationships of BM-MSCs and CAFs in resected gastric cancers with the clinicopathological factors of patients.

Methods: We analyzed 120 gastric cancer patients who underwent gastrectomy.