POSTN+ Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Promote Gastric Cancer Invasion by Activating AKT Signaling.
Xu X., You T., Sun Z., Bai C., Han Q., Zhao RC.
Prospective Study, published in Stem Cells Dev (2025) — summary generated from the PubMed abstract.
Early human evidence such as case series or small samples is exploring possible benefits.
- Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
- Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
- Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
- Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
- Emerging · Emerging topic under active research
This page is generated from the PubMed record. The Thai description is an automated summary of bibliographic fields and the abstract, not a full translation, and is not medical advice.
- Study type
- Prospective Study
- Journal
- Stem Cells Dev (2025)
- Country
- United States
- Reported sample size
- —
- Source database
- PubMed
- PMID
- 41204675
- DOI
- 10.1177/15473287251393202
Abstract (original English)
Metastasis is the primary cause of death in advanced/recurrent cancer patients. Cancer metastatic capability depends not only on cancer cells but also on the cancer microenvironment, particularly cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), a highly heterogeneous population. Our prior work identified a POSTN-secreting CAFs subpopulation linked to gastric cancer (GC) invasion and poor survival. The Cancer Genome Atlas analysis in GC showed POSTN association with epithelial-mesenchymal transition and extracellular matrix degradation pathways. In vitro, GC exosomes induced adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into POSTN-expressing CAFs. Lentiviral POSTN overexpression in CAFs enhanced GC cell migration/invasion, while knockdown had the opposite effect. These results were validated in a nude mouse GC model. As POSTN is an integrin ligand, POSTN-positive CAFs (POSTN+ CAFs) activated integrin downstream AKT signaling. AKT inhibition significantly diminished the pro-migratory/invasive effect of POSTN-overexpressing CAFs. In summary, POSTN+ CAFs promote GC invasion via AKT pathway activation.
What this study does not prove
- • This study does not prove SVF is an approved treatment or a replacement for standard care.
Evidence level
Early human evidence such as case series or small samples is exploring possible benefits.
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