REVIEW article
Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Cancer Cell Biology
Cancer-associated fibroblast heterogeneity and its role in reshaping immunotherapy in solid cancers: potential strategies and clinical promise
Provisionally accepted
Zhanwu Yu*
Peng Zu- Cancer Hospital of Dalian University of Technology (Liaoning Cancer Institute and Hospital), Shenyang, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are important components of the solid tumour microenvironment (TME). CAFs have long been regarded as major promoters of the malignant progression of tumours and are widely recognized for their strong secretory activity and direct effect on the malignant ability of tumour cells. Recently, studies have found extensive crosstalk between CAFs and tumour immunity. CAFs constitute a highly heterogeneous group, and continuous studies have shown that their subpopulations have unique functions and can be widely involved in tumour immune regulation and immunotherapy. However, the specific mechanisms still need to be further revealed. In this paper, we focused on the interactions between CAFs subpopulations and immune cells in the TME and summarized the interactions between CAFs and immune cells from multiple perspectives to provide new insights for antitumour immunotherapy in solid tumours.
Keywords: Cancer-associated fibroblast, heterogeneity, Immunotherapy, Solid cancers, TME
Received: 05 Dec 2025; Accepted: 16 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Yu and Zu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhanwu Yu
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.