(From left) Professor Lee Da-geun, Research Professor Choi Jae-il, Department of Pathology, Ajou University Hospital, Professor Seong Chang-ok, Researcher Eun-jeong Cho, Department of Pathology, Asan Medical Center, Ulsan College of Medicine.
[헬스코리아뉴스 / 이지혜] Contrary to the existing concept, inflammatory CAFs (iCAFs), which are known to promote cancer progression and metastasis by secreting various cytokines among cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), actually cause hypoxia (hypoxia) within tumor tissue. It was found to be formed by hypoxia.
The research team of Professor Lee Da-geun of the Department of Pathology at Ajou University Hospital (Research Professor Jae-il Choi) and the research team of Professor Chang-ok Seong (Researcher Eun-jeong Cho) of the Department of Pathology at Asan Medical Center of Ulsan College of Medicine analyzed single-cell sequencing (scRNA-seq) data of various cancer types and conducted various research studies using cancer-related fibroblasts derived from pancreatic cancer. An experiment was conducted.
As a result, it was discovered for the first time in human tissue that inflammatory CAF (iCAF), an important subtype of CAF, is formed by a hypoxic environment within the tissue.
In this study, the research team confirmed that the characteristics of iCAFs observed in human tumors can be almost perfectly replicated simply by inducing hypoxia in CAFs. The results of this study were verified by revealing that iCAFs sequentially increased in pancreatic cancer tissue as it went from blood vessels to hypoxic areas.
CAF is, to put it bluntly, a cancerous entity. CAFs, which are observed in most solid tumors, including pancreatic cancer, not only promote cancer progression and metastasis through various mechanisms, but are also one of the representative factors that make cancer treatment difficult by interfering with the delivery of therapeutic drugs and causing resistance.
Recently, with the development of single cell sequencing technology, it has been revealed that several subtypes of CAF exist, but even the mechanism of their formation has not been properly revealed, making it difficult to develop a treatment strategy to overcome them.
Professor Lee Da-geun said, “This study is an innovative achievement that goes beyond the existing concept that iCAFs are formed by IL-1 originating from cancer cells,” adding, “It is of great significance in establishing a concept that can properly explain transformation between CAFs.” “There is,” he said.
Professor Seong Chang-ok said, “As iCAF is known to secrete various cytokines and cause cancer growth and treatment resistance, it is expected that the development of treatments targeting iCAF will become more concrete in the future through the results of this research.” revealed.
The results of this study were published in the online edition of Clinical and Translational Medicine, an international SCI journal, titled ‘Hypoxic microenvironment determines the phenotypic plasticity and spatial distribution of cancer-associated fibroblasts’. It was recently published under the title. This study was conducted with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea’s Mid-career Researcher Support Project, Basic Laboratory Support Project, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Research-Intensive Hospital.
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2023-10-23 00:08:15
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