Furin Drives Colorectal Cancer Progression and Chemoresistance Through the TGF-β/ERK Signaling Pathway.

ABSTRACT: Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains one of the most lethal malignancies worldwide, with 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) as a mainstay of treatment. However, intrinsic and acquired resistance to 5-Fu significantly limits therapeutic success. Furin, a proprotein convertase, is known to activate multiple substrates critical for tumor progression, yet its precise role in CRC remains unclear. In this study, we examined furin expression in a large cohort of CRC patient samples and performed functional analyses in CRC cell lines and xenograft models. Furin overexpression was seen in 46.9% (530/1131) of CRC cases and was significantly correlated with TGF-β and ERK1/2 activation. In vitro, induced furin overexpression enhanced proliferation and clonogenicity, accompanied by upregulation of TGF-β and ERK1/2 phosp

SUBMITTER: Poyil PK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12785517 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature