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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Cell Adhesion and Migration
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2024.1481818

Representing ECM composition and EMT Pathways in Gastric Cancer using a new metastatic gene signature

Provisionally accepted
Francesco Albano Francesco Albano 1*Sabino Russi Sabino Russi 2Simona Laurino Simona Laurino 2Pellegrino Mazzone Pellegrino Mazzone 3Giuseppina Di Paola Giuseppina Di Paola 3Pietro Zoppoli Pietro Zoppoli 4Elena Amendola Elena Amendola 5Chiara Balzamo Chiara Balzamo 1Ottavia Bartolo Ottavia Bartolo 6Mario Ciuffi Mario Ciuffi 6Orazio Ignomirelli Orazio Ignomirelli 6Alessandro Sgambato Alessandro Sgambato 7Rocco Galasso Rocco Galasso 8Mario De Felice Mario De Felice 4Geppino Falco Geppino Falco 1Giovanni Calice Giovanni Calice 2*
  • 1 Department of Biology, University "Federico II" of Napoli, Napoli, Italy
  • 2 Laboratory of Preclinical and Translational Research, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico della Basilicata (IRCCS-CROB), Rionero in Vulture, Italy
  • 3 BioGeM Institute, Ariano Irpino, Italy
  • 4 Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnologies, University of Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy
  • 5 Institute for the Endocrinology and the Experimental Oncology "Gaetano Salvatore", National Council of the Researchs (IEOS-CNR), Napoli, Italy
  • 6 Endoscopy Unit, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico della Basilicata (IRCCS-CROB), Rionero in Vulture, Italy
  • 7 Departments of Medicine and Translational Surgery, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Rome, Lazio, Italy
  • 8 Scientific Direction, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico della Basilicata (IRCCS-CROB), Rionero in Vulture, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Gastric cancer (GC) is an aggressive and heterogeneous malignancy in which cancer cells start to invade through the stomach (stage I) until they metastasize to distant organs (stage IV), becoming lethal. We compared the gene expression profiles of 719 GC patients in seven different public datasets and identified a gene signature (APOD, COL1A2, FSTL1, GEM, LUM, and SPARC) characterizing stage IV disease, which is related to extracellular matrix (ECM) organization and the epithelial-tomesenchymal transition (EMT). We recreated a simplified ECM in vitro via the gene signature. This model recapitulates the signaling of metastatic disease, influencing the microenvironment and promoting cell invasion, triggering EMT.Overall, we identified a gene signature able to group Stage I GC patients at higher risk that is useful for the management of Stage I patients. Furthermore, our experimental model could be useful for further dissecting the molecular signaling that underlies the metastatic spread of cancer cells.

    Keywords: Biogem S.c.a.r.l., Via Camporeale snc, 83031, Ariano Gastric Cancer, metastasis, Transcriptomics and Enrichment Analysis, Extracellular Matrix, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, cell invasion

    Received: 16 Aug 2024; Accepted: 15 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Albano, Russi, Laurino, Mazzone, Di Paola, Zoppoli, Amendola, Balzamo, Bartolo, Ciuffi, Ignomirelli, Sgambato, Galasso, De Felice, Falco and Calice. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Francesco Albano, Department of Biology, University "Federico II" of Napoli, Napoli, Italy
    Giovanni Calice, Laboratory of Preclinical and Translational Research, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico della Basilicata (IRCCS-CROB), Rionero in Vulture, Italy

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