Furthermore, fibroblasts can become CAFs due to certain conditions in TME, including tumor-promoting inflammation, oxidative stress, and local hypoxia, and the stimulatory components that adjacent cells release, including transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) (34, 35), epidermal growth factor (EGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) (36), and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) (33, 36). Here, EGF is linked to neoplasm.