Abstract
BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is frequently associated with metastasis, resulting in high mortality rates. Platelets are known to play a crucial role in the metastatic cascade influencing tumor microenvironment remodeling, promoting cell transformation, facilitating metastatic niche formation, and shielding circulating tumor cells from immune surveillance. However, platelet proteomic alterations during tumor cell-induced platelet aggregation (TCIPA) remain largely unexplored. This study aims to characterize the proteomic profile of TCIPA in CRC using an in vitro model that recapitulates key aspects of CRC metastasis. METHODS: TCIPA was assessed via light transmission aggregometry using an in vitro model incorporating paired primary and metastatic cell cultures. Stable Isotope Labeling with Amino Acids in Cell culture (SILAC) allowed for the discrimination of healthy platelet and tumor cell proteomes prior to and following TCIPA. Data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry was employed to analyze intra- and extracellular tumor and platelet proteomes. Comparative proteomic profiling was performed using a range of bioinformatic analyses, including clustering, differential expression, and Gene Set Enrichment Analyses (GSEA). RESULTS: Comparison of the baseline proteome profiles of the CRC cell lines SW480 and SW620 identified 263 significant differentially abundant proteins (FDR ≤ 0.05, log(2)FC ≥ 1). The GSEA demonstrated enrichment of the ‘epithelial-mesenchymal transition’ (FDR: 5.617 × 10(− 5)) gene set in SW480 cells. While SW480 exhibited rapid TCIPA, SW620 did not consistently interact with healthy platelets. Following TCIPA, 34 tumor proteins showed differential expression compared to their naïve status (without platelet-exposure). Notably, 17 of these proteins were significantly associated with CRC progression, particularly in the promotion of EMT, metastasis, tumor cell survival, proliferation, and metabolic reprogramming. CONCLUSIONS: This study successfully characterized the proteomic profiles of platelets, platelet secretomes, and colorectal tumor cells following TCIPA-induced activation. The findings highlight the significant role of several tumor proteins and their metabolic effects in colorectal cancer progression, particularly with regard to metastasis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12935-026-04282-7.