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FAK signaling in cancer-associated fibroblasts promotes breast cancer cell migration and metastasis by exosomal miRNAs-mediated intercellular communication

Oncogene volume 39, pages 2539–2549 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are activated fibroblasts that constitute the major components of tumor microenvironment (TME) and play crucial roles in tumor development and metastasis. Here, we generated fibroblast-specific inducible focal adhesion kinase (FAK) knockout (cKO) mice in a breast cancer model to study potential role and mechanisms of FAK signaling in CAF to promote breast cancer metastasis in vivo. While not affecting primary tumor development and growth, FAK deletion significantly suppressed breast cancer metastasis in vivo. Analyses of CAFs derived from cKO mice as well as human CAFs showed that FAK is required for their activity to promote mammary tumor cell migration. We further showed that FAK ablation in CAFs decreased exosome functions to promote tumor cell migration and other activities, which could contribute to the reduced metastasis observed in cKO mice. Lastly, profiling of miRs from CAF exosomes showed alterations of several exosomal miRs in FAK-null CAFs, and further analysis suggested that miR-16 and miR-148a enriched in exosomes from FAK-null CAFs contribute to the reduced tumor cell activities and metastasis. Together, these results identify a new role for FAK signaling in CAFs that regulate their intercellular communication with tumor cells to promote breast cancer metastasis.

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Fig. 1: FAK ablation in fibroblasts inhibits breast cancer metastasis.
Fig. 2: FAK signaling in CAFs is required for their promotion of tumor cell migration.
Fig. 3: FAK deletion in CAFs results in defective exosomes.
Fig. 4: Exosomes from FAK deficient CAFs are deficient in promoting tumorigenic phenotypes.
Fig. 5: Regulation of miR-16 and miR-148a in CAF exosomes by FAK contributes to altered ability of CAFs to affect tumor cell activity and metastasis.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Glenn Doerman for his help in the preparation of figures. We are grateful to members of our laboratory for their critical comments and suggestions for the manuscript. The work in this study is funded by NIH grants R01CA163493, R01NS094144, and R01HL073394 to J-LG.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Hsin-Jung Wu, Mingang Hao

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  1. Department of Cancer Biology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, 45267, USA

    Hsin-Jung Wu, Mingang Hao, Syn Kok Yeo & Jun-Lin Guan

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Wu, HJ., Hao, M., Yeo, S.K. et al. FAK signaling in cancer-associated fibroblasts promotes breast cancer cell migration and metastasis by exosomal miRNAs-mediated intercellular communication. Oncogene 39, 2539–2549 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-020-1162-2

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