Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34930899›Full record

ArticleCell death & disease2021

Colorectal cancer-associated fibroblasts promote metastasis by up-regulating LRG1 through stromal IL-6/STAT3 signaling.

Beiping Zhong, Bing Cheng, Xiaoming Huang, Qian Xiao, Zhitong Niu, Yu-Feng Chen, Qiang Yu, Wenyu Wang, Xiao-Jian Wu

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cell death & disease, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
67citing papers in PubMed
8.0field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

67 citing papers in PubMed, 125 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Cytokines and cancer-associated fibroblasts.Journal of hematology & oncology · 2026
    Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Modeling CAF-tumor interactions to overcome therapy resistance.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2026
    Review
  13. Review
  14. Polyp Tissue LRG1 Protein Levels andInternational journal of general medicine · 2026
    Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Review
  18. The role of Fetuin-A and Leucine-rich α-2-glycoprotein in the diagnosis of prostate cancer - a pilot study.Biomedical papers of the Medical Faculty of the University Palacky, Olomouc, Czechoslovakia · 2025
    Article
  19. Review
  20. The critical role of LRG1 in pathological fibrosis.Journal of molecular medicine (Berlin, Germany) · 2025
    Review

7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Beiping Zhong *Department of Colorectal Surgery, Guangdong Provincial Key laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510655, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8614-036X
Bing Cheng *Department of Colorectal Surgery, Guangdong Provincial Key laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510655, China.
Xiaoming HuangDepartment of Colorectal Surgery, Guangdong Provincial Key laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510655, China.
Qian XiaoDepartment of Colorectal Surgery, Guangdong Provincial Key laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510655, China.
Zhitong NiuDepartment of Colorectal Surgery, Guangdong Provincial Key laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510655, China.
Yu-Feng ChenDepartment of Colorectal Surgery, Guangdong Provincial Key laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510655, China.
Qiang YuDepartment of Colorectal Surgery, Guangdong Provincial Key laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510655, China. yuq@gis.a-star.edu.sg.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2132-8278
Wenyu WangDepartment of Colorectal Surgery, Guangdong Provincial Key laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510655, China. wangwy63@mail.sysu.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8947-4867
Xiao-Jian WuDepartment of Colorectal Surgery, Guangdong Provincial Key laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510655, China. wuxjian@mail.sysu.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5610-2530
Sun Yat-sen University · CNAgency for Science, Technology and Research · SG

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) have been shown to play a strong role in colorectal cancer metastasis, yet the underlying mechanism remains to be fully elucidated. Using CRC clinical samples together with ex vivo CAFs-CRC co-culture models, we found that CAFs induce expression of Leucine Rich Alpha-2-Glycoprotein 1(LRG1) in CRC, where it shows markedly higher expression in metastatic CRC tissues compared to primary tumors. We further show that CAFs-induced LRG1 promotes CRC migration and invasion that is concomitant with EMT (epithelial-mesenchymal transition) induction. In addition, this signaling axis has also been confirmed in the liver metastatic mouse model which displayed CAFs-induced LRG1 substantially accelerates metastasis. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that CAFs-secreted IL-6 (interleukin-6) is responsible for LRG1 up-regulation in CRC, which occurs through a direct transactivation by STAT3 following JAK2 activation. In clinical CRC tumor samples, LRG1 expression was positively correlated with CAFs-specific marker, α-SMA, and a higher LRG1 expression predicted poor clinical outcomes especially distant metastasis free survival, supporting the role of LRG1 in CRC progression. Collectively, this study provided a novel insight into CAFs-mediated metastasis in CRC and indicated that therapeutic targeting of CAFs-mediated IL-6-STAT3-LRG1 axis might be a potential strategy to mitigate metastasis in CRC.

Indexed as

AgedAnimalsCancer-Associated FibroblastsCell MovementCell ProliferationColorectal NeoplasmsDisease Models, AnimalFemaleFollow-Up StudiesGlycoproteinsHCT116 CellsHeterograftsHumansInterleukin-6Liver NeoplasmsMaleGlycoproteinsIL6 protein, humanInterleukin-6LRG1 protein, humanSTAT3 protein, humanSTAT3 Transcription Factor

Identifiers

PMID34930899
PMCPMC8688517
OpenAlexW4200021891

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.