Solid tumours comprise cancer cells that engage in continuous interactions with non-malignant cells and with acellular components, forming the tumour microenvironment (TME). The TME has crucial and diverse roles in tumour progression and metastasis, and substantial efforts have been dedicated into understanding the functions of different cell types within the TME. These efforts highlighted the importance of non-cell-autonomous signalling in cancer, mediating interactions between the cancer cells, the immune microenvironment and the non-immune stroma. Much of this non-cell-autonomous signalling is mediated through acellular components of the TME, known as the extracellular matrix (ECM), and controlled by the cells that secrete and remodel the ECM — the cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). In this Review, we delve into the complex crosstalk among cancer cells, CAFs and immune cells, highlighting the effects of CAF-induced ECM remodelling on T cell functions and offering insights into the potential of targeting ECM components to improve cancer therapies.

实体瘤由癌细胞组成，癌细胞与非恶性细胞和非细胞成分持续相互作用，形成肿瘤微环境（TME）。 TME 在肿瘤进展和转移中发挥着至关重要且多样化的作用，人们付出了大量努力来了解 TME 内不同细胞类型的功能。这些努力强调了非细胞自主信号传导在癌症中的重要性，介导癌细胞、免疫微环境和非免疫基质之间的相互作用。这种非细胞自主信号传导大部分是通过 TME 的非细胞成分（称为细胞外基质 (ECM)）介导，并由分泌和重塑 ECM 的细胞（癌症相关成纤维细胞 (CAF)）控制。在这篇综述中，我们深入研究了癌细胞、CAF 和免疫细胞之间的复杂串扰，强调了 CAF 诱导的 ECM 重塑对 T 细胞功能的影响，并深入探讨了靶向 ECM 成分改善癌症治疗的潜力。