FAK signaling in cancer-associated fibroblasts promotes breast cancer cell migration and metastasis by exosomal miRNAs-mediated intercellular communication.

ABSTRACT: Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are activated fibroblasts that constitute the major components of tumor microenvironment (TME) and play crucial roles in tumor development and metastasis. Here, we generated fibroblast-specific inducible focal adhesion kinase (FAK) knockout (cKO) mice in a breast cancer model to study potential role and mechanisms of FAK signaling in CAF to promote breast cancer metastasis in vivo. While not affecting primary tumor development and growth, FAK deletion significantly suppressed breast cancer metastasis in vivo. Analyses of CAFs derived from cKO mice as well as human CAFs showed that FAK is required for their activity to promote mammary tumor cell migration. We further showed that FAK ablation in CAFs decreased exosome functions to promote tumor cell migra

SUBMITTER: Wu HJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7310603 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature