There was a subset of fibroblasts showing a high level of essential chemokine and cytokine expression including CXCL12 and IL6. Previous studies have demonstrated that CAF-derived CXCL12 induces EMT through the CXCR4/Wnt/β-catenin pathway in ovarian epithelial cancers [47] and that IL-6 secreted by CAFs can enhance EMT in lung cancer cells [48] and activate JAK/STAT signaling pathways in HGSC [37, 38]. Here, CXCR4 is linked to ovarian carcinoma.