Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Background
The TGF-β1 transcription factor SMAD3 is epigenetically repressed in tumour-associated fibroblasts (TAFs) from lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) but not adenocarcinoma (ADC) patients, which elicits a compensatory increase in SMAD2 that renders SCC-TAFs less fibrotic. Here we examined the effects of altered SMAD2/3 in fibroblast migration and its impact on the desmoplastic stroma formation in lung cancer.Methods
We used a microfluidic device to examine descriptors of early protrusions and subsequent migration in 3D collagen gels upon knocking down SMAD2 or SMAD3 by shRNA in control fibroblasts and TAFs.Results
High SMAD3 conditions as in shSMAD2 fibroblasts and ADC-TAFs exhibited a migratory advantage in terms of protrusions (fewer and longer) and migration (faster and more directional) selectively without TGF-β1 along with Erk1/2 hyperactivation. This enhanced migration was abrogated by TGF-β1 as well as low glucose medium and the MEK inhibitor Trametinib. In contrast, high SMAD2 fibroblasts were poorly responsive to TGF-β1, high glucose and Trametinib, exhibiting impaired migration in all conditions.Conclusions
The basal migration advantage of high SMAD3 fibroblasts provides a straightforward mechanism underlying the larger accumulation of TAFs previously reported in ADC compared to SCC. Moreover, our results encourage using MEK inhibitors in ADC-TAFs but not SCC-TAFs.
SUBMITTER: Juste-Lanas Y
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10006167 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Juste-Lanas Yago Y Díaz-Valdivia Natalia N Llorente Alejandro A Ikemori Rafael R Bernardo Alejandro A Arshakyan Marselina M Borau Carlos C Ramírez Josep J Ruffinelli José Carlos JC Nadal Ernest E Reguart Noemí N García-Aznar José M JM Alcaraz Jordi J
British journal of cancer 20221226 6
<h4>Background</h4>The TGF-β1 transcription factor SMAD3 is epigenetically repressed in tumour-associated fibroblasts (TAFs) from lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) but not adenocarcinoma (ADC) patients, which elicits a compensatory increase in SMAD2 that renders SCC-TAFs less fibrotic. Here we examined the effects of altered SMAD2/3 in fibroblast migration and its impact on the desmoplastic stroma formation in lung cancer.<h4>Methods</h4>We used a microfluidic device to examine descriptors of e ...[more]