SDC1 <sup>+</sup> CAFs secreting CTGF drive tumour metastasis via FGFR3 signalling in cancers
Our study establishes SDC1<sup>+</sup> CAFs as a universal, metastasis-promoting CAF subset across multiple cancer types and uncovers a novel KLF6-CTGF-FGFR3 axis that drives EMT and tumour dissemination. These findings provide mechanistic insight into CAF-tumour cell crosstalk and highlight actionable stromal targets for anti-metastatic therapies across diverse malignancies.
Authors
- Yiqi Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2885-8215)
- Jin-xin Bei
- Nu Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6783-3811)
- Guangzhao Lv
- Xing-liang Tan
- Peirong Ding (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0796-8175)
- Jiehai Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7554-0018)
- Mu-Yan Cai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5315-8336)
- Weixin Liao
- Shu-Wei Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4287-8607)
- J. R. Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6892-9380)
- Panpan Wei
- Jian-Fu Zhao
- Gong Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1857-3670)
- Ying Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1312-0146)
- Shuai He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2533-1020)
- Kai Yao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1428-6957)
- Rou Peng
- Dong-Ming Kuang
- Xiu-Wu Bian
- Guan-Feng Gao
- Zhi-Ting Sun
- Jin-Li Lyu
- Yu Shi
- Shi-Bo Zhang
- Zheng Zhao
- Xin-Yuan Guan
- Zhao-Hui Ruan
- Yan-Jun Wang
Institutions
- Central South University (CN)
- Army Medical University (CN)
- Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
- Chongqing University (CN)
- Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Capital Medical University (CN)
- Chinese National Human Genome Center (CN)
- Beijing Institute of Neurosurgery (CN)
- Hunan Cancer Hospital (CN)
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
- Southwest Hospital (CN)
- National Cancer Centre Singapore (SG)
- Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (CN)
- Nano and Advanced Materials Institute (CN)
- Third Xiangya Hospital (CN)
- First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University (CN)
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Gut
- Published
- 2026-02-10
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2025-337606
- Primary Topic
- Connective Tissue Growth Factor Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00