Journal Article

Cancer associated fibroblast FAK regulates malignant cell metabolism

Campbell, James J., Schall, Thomas J., Costa, Ana S. H., Casado, Pedro, Singh, Rajinder, Balkwill, Frances R., Rajeeve, Vinothini, Frezza, Christian, Reynolds, Louise E., Sosabowski, Jane, Hodivala-Dilke, Kairbaan, Baker, Ann-Marie, Newport, Emma, Roy-Luzarraga, Marina, Wang, Yu, Foster, Julie, Wang, Jun, de Luxan Delgado, Beatriz, Candido, Juliana, Sancho, Patricia, Demircioglu, Fevzi, Gomez-Escudero, Jesus, Cutillas, Pedro R., Graham, Trevor A., Zhang, Penglie

2020

Overview

Emerging evidence suggests that cancer cell metabolism can be regulated by cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), but the mechanisms are poorly defined. Here we show that CAFs regulate malignant cell metabolism through pathways under the control of FAK. In breast and pancreatic cancer patients we find that low FAK expression, specifically in the stromal compartment, predicts reduced overall survival. In mice, depletion of FAK in a subpopulation of CAFs regulates paracrine signals that increase malignant cell glycolysis and tumour growth. Proteomic and phosphoproteomic analysis in our mouse model identifies metabolic alterations which are reflected at the transcriptomic level in patients with low stromal FAK. Mechanistically we demonstrate that FAK-depletion in CAFs increases chemokine production, which via CCR1/CCR2 on cancer cells, activate protein kinase A, leading to enhanced malignant cell glycolysis. Our data uncover mechanisms whereby stromal fibroblasts regulate cancer cell metabolism independent of genetic mutations in cancer cells. Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) have been suggested to regulate cancer cell metabolism, but the mechanisms are not completely elucidated. Here, the authors show that low FAK expression in stromal cells correlates with poor prognosis in breast and pancreatic cancer patients and that FAK-silencing in CAFs promotes tumourigenesis by the paracrine regulation of cancer cell metabolism.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 13/31 / 59 / 59/57 / 59/78 / 631/67/2327 / 631/67/2328 / 631/67/327 / 82/51 / Animals / Breast cancer / Breast Neoplasms - blood supply / Breast Neoplasms - metabolism / Breast Neoplasms - pathology / Cancer / Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts - enzymology / CCR1 protein / CCR2 protein / Cell Line, Tumor / Cell Proliferation / Chemokines - metabolism / Depletion / Female / Fibroblasts / Focal adhesion kinase / Focal Adhesion Protein-Tyrosine Kinases - metabolism / Glycolysis / Humanities and Social Sciences / Humans / Kinases / Male / Medical prognosis / Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Metabolism / Mice, Inbred C57BL / Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 / multidisciplinary / Mutation / Neoplasms - blood supply / Neoplasms - metabolism / Neoplasms - pathology / Pancreatic cancer / Pancreatic Neoplasms - blood supply / Pancreatic Neoplasms - metabolism / Pancreatic Neoplasms - pathology / Paracrine signalling / Phosphoproteins - metabolism / Protein kinase A / Proteomics / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Stromal cells / Stromal Cells - metabolism / Survival Analysis / Tumorigenesis / Tumors / Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays