Lymphatic metastasis is the main metastatic route for colorectal cancer, which increases the risk of cancer recurrence and distant metastasis. The properties of the lymph node metastatic colorectal cancer(LNM-CRC) cel...Lymphatic metastasis is the main metastatic route for colorectal cancer, which increases the risk of cancer recurrence and distant metastasis. The properties of the lymph node metastatic colorectal cancer(LNM-CRC) cells are poorly understood, and effective therapies are still lacking. Here, we found that hypoxia-induced fibroblast activation protein alpha(FAPα) expression in LNM-CRC cells. Gain-or loss-function experiments demonstrated that FAPα enhanced tumor cell migration, invasion, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, stemness, and lymphangiogenesis via activation of the STAT3 pathway. In addition, FAPα in tumor cells induced extracellular matrix remodeling and established an immunosuppressive environment via recruiting regulatory T cells, to promote colorectal cancer lymph node metastasis(CRCLNM). Z-GP-DAVLBH, a FAPα-activated prodrug, inhibited CRCLNM by targeting FAPα-positive LNM-CRC cells. Our study highlights the role of FAPα in tumor cells in CRCLNM and provides a potential therapeutic target and promising strategy for CRCLNM.展开更多
Background:Fibroblast activation protein(FAP),a cell surface serine protease,plays roles in tumor invasion and immune regulation.However,there is currently no pan-cancer analysis of FAP.Objective:We aimed to assess th...Background:Fibroblast activation protein(FAP),a cell surface serine protease,plays roles in tumor invasion and immune regulation.However,there is currently no pan-cancer analysis of FAP.Objective:We aimed to assess the pan-cancer expression profile of FAP,its molecular function,and its potential role in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma(HNSC).Methods:We analyzed gene expression,survival status,immune infiltration,and molecular functional pathways of FAP in The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)and Genotype Tissue Expression(GTEx)tumors.Furthermore,to elucidate the role of FAP in HNSC,we performed proliferation,migration,and invasion assays post-FAP overexpression or knock-down.Results:FAP expression was elevated in nine tumor types and was associated with poor survival in eight of them.In the context of immune infiltration,FAP expression negatively correlated with CD8+T-cell infiltration infive tumor types and positively with regulatory T-cell infiltration in four tumor types.Our enrichment analysis highlighted FAP’s involvement in the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway.In HNSC cells,FAP overexpression activated the PI3K-Akt pathway,promoting tumor proliferation,migration,and invasion.Conversely,FAP knockdown showed inhibitory effects.Conclusion:Our study unveils the association of FAP with poor tumor prognosis across multiple cancers and highlights its potential as a therapeutic target in HNSC.展开更多
Melanoma is a malignant neoplasm with a high propensity to metastasize,arising from melanocytes and contributing significantly to global morbidity and mortality.Despite the demonstrated efficacy of many immunotherapy ap...Melanoma is a malignant neoplasm with a high propensity to metastasize,arising from melanocytes and contributing significantly to global morbidity and mortality.Despite the demonstrated efficacy of many immunotherapy approaches,these methods rely on direct destruction of tumor cells with minimal impact on the aggregate of nearby non-tumor cells,the extracellular matrix,and blood vessels that form the tumor microenvironment(TME).The TME is known to be heterogeneous and dynamic,exerting both antitumor and pro-tumor effects depending on the specific features and stage of carcinogenesis.TME has been shown in several studies to promote malignancy,angiogenesis,and metastasis in tumors in general and melanoma in particular.Consequently,a significant number of studies in thefield of melanoma therapy have been redirected to investigate the effects of individual TME constituents,their prognostic significance for patients,and the potential of therapeutic intervention to improve overall patient survival.This review highlights novel therapeutic approaches targeting two key resident cell types in the melanoma microenvironment:tumor-associated macrophages(TAMs)and cancer-associatedfibroblasts(CAFs).The review discusses their role in disease progression and summarizes the results of preclinical and clinical trials of targeted therapies against these cell types in the melanoma TME.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(82273941,81973340,82204427,81803566,82003796,81773758)Local Innovative and Research Teams Project of Guangdong Pearl River Talents Program(2017BT01Y036,China)+9 种基金Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province(2022A1515011813,2021A1515110242,2020A1515010071,2019A1515010144,2019A1515110543,2019A1515011934,China)Ministry of Science and Technology of China(2018ZX09711001-008-008)National high-level personnel of special support program(Zhang Dongmei),National Key R&D Program of China(2017YFC 1703800)Technology Key Project of Guangdong Province(2020B1111110004,China)Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmacodynamic Constituents of Traditional Chinese Medicine and New Drugs Research,College of Pharmacy(2020B1212060076,China)Special Funds for the Cultivation of Guangdong College Students’Scientifc and Technological Innovation(“Climbing Program”Special Funds)(pdjh2021a0052,China)Science and Technology Projects in Guangzhou(2023A03J0602,202201010173,202102070001,202002030010,China)Young S&T Talent Training Program of Guangdong Provincial Association for S&T,China(SKXRC202216)Clinical Frontier Technology Program of the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University(JNU1AF-CFTP-2022-a01227,China)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2022M 711345,China).
文摘Lymphatic metastasis is the main metastatic route for colorectal cancer, which increases the risk of cancer recurrence and distant metastasis. The properties of the lymph node metastatic colorectal cancer(LNM-CRC) cells are poorly understood, and effective therapies are still lacking. Here, we found that hypoxia-induced fibroblast activation protein alpha(FAPα) expression in LNM-CRC cells. Gain-or loss-function experiments demonstrated that FAPα enhanced tumor cell migration, invasion, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, stemness, and lymphangiogenesis via activation of the STAT3 pathway. In addition, FAPα in tumor cells induced extracellular matrix remodeling and established an immunosuppressive environment via recruiting regulatory T cells, to promote colorectal cancer lymph node metastasis(CRCLNM). Z-GP-DAVLBH, a FAPα-activated prodrug, inhibited CRCLNM by targeting FAPα-positive LNM-CRC cells. Our study highlights the role of FAPα in tumor cells in CRCLNM and provides a potential therapeutic target and promising strategy for CRCLNM.
基金This study was supported in part by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.82170972).
文摘Background:Fibroblast activation protein(FAP),a cell surface serine protease,plays roles in tumor invasion and immune regulation.However,there is currently no pan-cancer analysis of FAP.Objective:We aimed to assess the pan-cancer expression profile of FAP,its molecular function,and its potential role in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma(HNSC).Methods:We analyzed gene expression,survival status,immune infiltration,and molecular functional pathways of FAP in The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)and Genotype Tissue Expression(GTEx)tumors.Furthermore,to elucidate the role of FAP in HNSC,we performed proliferation,migration,and invasion assays post-FAP overexpression or knock-down.Results:FAP expression was elevated in nine tumor types and was associated with poor survival in eight of them.In the context of immune infiltration,FAP expression negatively correlated with CD8+T-cell infiltration infive tumor types and positively with regulatory T-cell infiltration in four tumor types.Our enrichment analysis highlighted FAP’s involvement in the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway.In HNSC cells,FAP overexpression activated the PI3K-Akt pathway,promoting tumor proliferation,migration,and invasion.Conversely,FAP knockdown showed inhibitory effects.Conclusion:Our study unveils the association of FAP with poor tumor prognosis across multiple cancers and highlights its potential as a therapeutic target in HNSC.
基金performed at the expense of the subsidy allocated to Kazan Federal University for the fulfillment of the stated task in the field of scientific activity,No.FZSM-2023-0011.
文摘Melanoma is a malignant neoplasm with a high propensity to metastasize,arising from melanocytes and contributing significantly to global morbidity and mortality.Despite the demonstrated efficacy of many immunotherapy approaches,these methods rely on direct destruction of tumor cells with minimal impact on the aggregate of nearby non-tumor cells,the extracellular matrix,and blood vessels that form the tumor microenvironment(TME).The TME is known to be heterogeneous and dynamic,exerting both antitumor and pro-tumor effects depending on the specific features and stage of carcinogenesis.TME has been shown in several studies to promote malignancy,angiogenesis,and metastasis in tumors in general and melanoma in particular.Consequently,a significant number of studies in thefield of melanoma therapy have been redirected to investigate the effects of individual TME constituents,their prognostic significance for patients,and the potential of therapeutic intervention to improve overall patient survival.This review highlights novel therapeutic approaches targeting two key resident cell types in the melanoma microenvironment:tumor-associated macrophages(TAMs)and cancer-associatedfibroblasts(CAFs).The review discusses their role in disease progression and summarizes the results of preclinical and clinical trials of targeted therapies against these cell types in the melanoma TME.