- Author:
Shuran FAN
1
;
Ming QI
1
;
Qi QI
2
;
Qun MIAO
1
;
Lijuan DENG
3
;
Jinghua PAN
4
;
Shenghui QIU
4
;
Jiashuai HE
4
;
Maohua HUANG
1
;
Xiaobo LI
1
;
Jie HUANG
1
;
Jiapeng LIN
5
;
Wenyu LYU
5
;
Weiqing DENG
5
;
Yingyin HE
5
;
Xuesong LIU
4
;
Lvfen GAO
4
;
Dongmei ZHANG
1
;
Wencai YE
1
;
Minfeng CHEN
1
Author Information
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Epithelial–mesenchymal transition; Extracellular matrix remodeling; FAPα-activated prodrug; Fibroblast activation protein α; Immunosuppressive; Lymphatic metastasis; STAT3
- From: Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B 2024;14(2):682-697
- CountryChina
- Language:English
- Abstract: 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.