1. Academic Validation
  2. Epithelial cells activate fibroblasts to promote esophageal cancer development

Epithelial cells activate fibroblasts to promote esophageal cancer development

  • Cancer Cell. 2023 Mar 14;S1535-6108(23)00049-1. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2023.03.001.
Yamei Chen 1 Shihao Zhu 1 Tianyuan Liu 1 Shaosen Zhang 1 Junting Lu 1 Wenyi Fan 1 Lin Lin 1 Tao Xiang 1 Jie Yang 1 Xuan Zhao 1 Yiyi Xi 1 Yuling Ma 1 Guoyu Cheng 1 Dongxin Lin 2 Chen Wu 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China.
  • 2 Department of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China; Key Laboratory of Cancer Genomic Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Personalized Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 211166, China; Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou 510060, China. Electronic address: lindx@cicams.ac.cn.
  • 3 Department of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China; Key Laboratory of Cancer Genomic Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Personalized Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 211166, China; CAMS Oxford Institute, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100006, China. Electronic address: chenwu@cicams.ac.cn.
Abstract

Esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma (ESCC) develops through multistage epithelial Cancer formation, i.e., from normal epithelium, low- and high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia to invasive carcinoma. However, how the precancerous lesions progress to carcinoma remains elusive. Here, we report a comprehensive single-cell RNA Sequencing and spatial transcriptomic study of 79 multistage esophageal lesions from 29 patients with ESCC. We reveal a gradual and significant loss of ANXA1 expression in epithelial cells due to its transcription factor KLF4 suppression along the lesion progression. We demonstrate that ANXA1 is a ligand to formyl peptide receptor type 2 (FPR2) on fibroblasts that maintain fibroblast homeostasis. Loss of ANXA1 leads to uncontrolled transformation of normal fibroblasts into cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which can be enhanced by secreted TGF-β from malignant epithelial cells. Given the role of CAFs in Cancer, our study underscores ANXA1/FPR2 signaling as an important crosstalk mechanism between epithelial cells and fibroblasts in promoting ESCC.

Keywords

ANXA1; FPR2; cancer-associated fibroblast; esophageal cancer; precancerous lesions.

Figures
Products