Fig. 3

The tumor microenvironment of prostate cancer. In the PCa TME, both immune and non-immune components played crucial roles in the PCa initiation, development, and progression. For example, Tregs were associated with lineage differentiation and immune infiltration, and TAMs exhibited unexpected OC-like features, potentially promoting bone metastasis. Additionally, CAFs contributed to extracellular matrix activation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Besides, abnormal aECs enriched in CRPC inhibited immune responses and enhanced tumor invasion. PCa prostate cancer, TAM tumor-associated macrophages, ECM extracellular matrix, EMT epithelial-mesenchymal transition, CRPC castration-resistant prostate cancer, ENZ enzalutamide, KLK3 kallikrein 3, TME tumor microenvironment, TNF tumor necrosis factor, NF-κB nuclear factor-kappa B, NOD nucleotide binding oligomerization domain, PDCD-1 programmed cell death-1