Fig. 1
From: Tumor microenvironment participates in metastasis of pancreatic cancer
Development of the pancreatic cancer microenvironment. Pancreatic cancer cells secrete cytokines and chemokines to recruit or activate stromal cells for desmoplasia and immune evasion, including myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), regulatory T cells (Tregs), and pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs). Among them, PSCs are the main source of ECM deposition, and the TAM-PSC axis can facilitate desmoplasia. These cells within the pancreatic cancer microenvironment can help pancreatic cancer cells inhibit CD8+ T cells to overcome the immune surveillance by expressing or producing various factors, such as IL-10, TGFβ, PD-L1, and IDO