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Abstract Breast cancer remains the predominant form of carcinoma affecting women and still accounts for the greatest number of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide. Breast cancers are highly complex tissues with carcinoma cells constituting only one of many distinct cell types. Indeed, within many breast tumor masses, the cancer cells may represent only a small proportion (<20%) of the total cell number. The remaining cell types are often grouped together under the collective term of “tumor-associated stroma. Historically in the cancer field much of the focus has been on the changes in the cancer cells themselves. However, in recent years it has been realized that in order to understand and treat cancer one has also to take into account the surrounding tumor stroma, which conditions the microenvironment via dynamic bi-directional cellular interactions. Therefore, it is important to study the stromal changes in cases of breast cancer as regard stromal, inflammatory cells and ECM remodeling as it may have role in breast cancer prognosis. |