Extending this to human CxCa, ex vivo cultured CAFs were seen to be ERα positive and canonical or genomic ERα-signaling mediated secretion of soluble substances which promoted cancer progression by directly inducing proliferation, epithelial cell migration, angiogenesis, metabolism, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and indirectly by stimulating inflammation (Kumar et al., 2016). This evidence concerns the gene ESR1 and cancer.