Stromal fibroblasts isolated from breast cancer tissues exhibit characteristics of CAFs. (A) H&E staining of paraffin-embedded breast cancer tissue sections ( × 400). There were stromal cells surrounding the cancer nests and distributed among the invasive cancer cells in the heterogeneous cancer tissue. (B) Activated fibroblast marker α-SMA expression in paraffin-embedded primary breast cancer tissue sections was detected by immunohistochemistry ( × 400). Stromal fibroblasts surrounding cancer cells highly expressed α-SMA, present characteristics of CAFs. (C) Morphological features of primary cultured stromal fibroblasts isolated from the primary breast cancer tissue ( × 200). (D) Mesenchymal marker vimentin expression in stromal fibroblasts grown on a coverslip was detected by immunohistochemistry ( × 400). The stromal fibroblasts expressed vimentin highly. (E) Epithelial marker E-cadherin expression in the stromal fibroblasts was detected by immunohistochemistry ( × 400). The stromal fibroblasts did not express E-cadherin. (F) The expression of α-SMA and E-cadherin in stromal fibroblasts isolated from different primary breast cancer tissues was detected by immunobotting. All the primary cultured stromal fibroblasts expressed α-SMA highly but did not express E-cadherin, presenting characteristics of CAFs.Cancer-associated fibroblasts induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition of breast cancer cells through paracrine TGF-β signalling. Yu Y, Xiao CH, Tan LD, Wang QS, Li XQ, Feng YM - British journal of cancer (2013). Not Altered. CC.