Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40919933›Full record

ReviewInternational journal of surgery (London, England)2026

Cancer-associated fibroblasts as a potential therapeutic target for thyroid cancers.

Kashmira Chakraborty, Ramya Lakshmi Rajendran, Shristy Kothiwal, Sourav Majhi, Anuvab Dey, Subhrojyoti Ghosh, Ankita Chowdhury, Chandrajeet Dhara, Rijula Batabyal, Sreyee Biswas and 3 more

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in International journal of surgery (London, England), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Kashmira ChakrabortyDepartment of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India.
Ramya Lakshmi RajendranBK21 FOUR KNU Convergence Educational Program of Biomedical Sciences for Creative Future Talents, Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
Shristy KothiwalInfection Biology Group, CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
Sourav MajhiDepartment of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, North Guwahati, Assam, India.
Anuvab DeyDepartment of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, North Guwahati, Assam, India.
Subhrojyoti GhoshDepartment of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India.
Ankita ChowdhuryDepartment of Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India.
Chandrajeet DharaDepartment of Biotechnology, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Rijula BatabyalDepartment of Biotechnology and Medical engineering , National Institute of Technology , Rourkela, India.
Sreyee BiswasDepartment of Biotechnology and Medical engineering , National Institute of Technology , Rourkela, India.
Chae Moon HongDepartment of Nuclear Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
Prakash GangadaranDepartment of Nuclear Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea.ORCID 0000-0002-0658-4604
Byeong-Cheol AhnBK21 FOUR KNU Convergence Educational Program of Biomedical Sciences for Creative Future Talents, Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Thyroid cancer, a prevalent endocrine malignancy, is influenced by its tumor microenvironment (TME), with cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) playing a pivotal role in disease progression. Molecularly, CAFs orchestrate a pro-tumorigenic niche via cytokine secretion and extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffening, underscoring their targetability. Therapeutic strategies, including small molecule inhibitor-based therapies, immune-based therapies, nanoparticle-based approaches, and combination regimens, have been evaluated for their efficacy in disrupting CAF functionality. CAFs from resident fibroblasts or recruited precursors can promote the progression of thyroid cancer through ECM remodeling, angiogenesis, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) induction while facilitating immune evasion. These processes can enhance tumor invasiveness, metastasis, and resistance to conventional therapies. Preclinical studies using thyroid cancer models have demonstrated promising outcomes, such as reduced tumor burden and enhanced drug sensitivity upon CAF inhibition. Emerging clinical trials have tested CAF-directed agents in patient cohorts and validated these findings. However, many challenges persist, including the identification of reliable CAF-specific biomarkers, optimization of treatment timing, and integration of the biomarkers into personalized medicine frameworks. This review explores the therapeutic potential of CAFs for thyroid cancers, emphasizing their origin, activation, and multifaceted contributions to tumor growth. This review synthesizes current evidence, highlighting CAFs as a novel therapeutic frontier for thyroid cancers. Future research should focus on refined biomarker discovery and strategic therapeutic sequencing to maximize clinical benefits, providing a roadmap for translating CAF-targeted approaches into effective treatments for thyroid cancers.

Indexed as

Cancer-Associated FibroblastsThyroid NeoplasmsEpithelial-Mesenchymal TransitionHumansTumor Microenvironmentcancer-associated fibroblastepithelial–mesenchymal transitionextracellular matrixinhibitorthyroid cancer

Identifiers

PMID40919933
PMCPMC12825884

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.