Hirotsugu Saiki, Yoshito Hayashi, Shunsuke Yoshii, Eiji Kimura, Kentaro Nakagawa, Minoru Kato, Ryotaro Uema, Takanori Inoue, Akihiko Sakatani, Takeo Yoshihara, Yoshiki Tsujii, Shinichiro Shinzaki, Hideki Iijima, Tetsuo Takehara
Cancer‑associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are pivotal in tumor progression. TP53‑deficiency in cancer cells is associated with robust stromal activation. The apelin‑apelin receptor (APJ) system has been implicated in suppressing fibroblast‑to‑myofibroblast transition in non‑neoplastic organ fibrosis. The present study aimed to elucidate the oncogenic role of the apelin‑APJ system in tumor fibroblasts. APJ expression and the effect of APJ suppression in fibroblasts were investigated for p53 status in cancer cells using human cell lines (TP53‑wild colon cancer, HCT116, and Caco‑2; TP53‑mutant colon cancer, SW480, and DLD‑1; and colon fibroblasts, CCD‑18Co), resected human tissue samples of colorectal cancers, and immune‑deficient nude mouse xenograft models...
December 2023: International Journal of Oncology