Background
To investigate the influence of fibroblast activation protein alpha (FAP) derived from cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), as well as potential mechanism of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), on gastric cancer (GC) progression.
Conclusions
Stromal FAP could be a potential prognostic biomarker in GC by promoting cancer progression via EMT through Wnt/ β-catenin signal pathway.
Methods
Correlation between CAFs-derived FAP and clinical
Results
It show that FAP has a high-risk correlation with the malignant level of clinical outcomes in GC patients. FAP promotes the ability of proliferation, migration, invasion, apoptosis-inhibition of SGC7901 cells and induces apoptosis of GES1 cells in vitro. The mechanism study shows that epithelial markers have been down-regulated and mesenchymal markers and Wnt/β-catenin signal pathway related proteins have been up-regulated. Animal assay suggests that tumor burden has been enhanced by FAP significantly in vivo. Conclusions: Stromal FAP could be a potential prognostic biomarker in GC by promoting cancer progression via EMT through Wnt/ β-catenin signal pathway.