TWIST1 and cancer: Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) can promote cancer progression via remodeling the ECM, induction of angiogenesis, recruitment of inflammatory cells, and directly stimulating cancer cell proliferation via the secretion of growth factors and mesenchymal–epithelial cell interactions, which are mainly regulated by the IL-6–STAT3–Twist signaling pathway by upregulating the expression of CXCL1260, a Twist target gene associated with the regulation of the CAF phenotype.