Interleukin-33-Enhanced CXCR4 Signaling Circuit Mediated by Carcinoma-Associated Fibroblasts Promotes Invasiveness of Head and Neck Cancer

摘要

The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays an important role of cancer recurrence and treatment resistance. The cytokines in the TME may involve the tumor pathogenesis. Therefore, it is critical to discover the novel TME-associated signal transduction pathways contributing for the tumor progression. In this study, we established stable clones of interleukin (IL)-33-overexpressing head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells to simulate IL-33-induced autocrine signaling and identify the role of IL-33 expression in more aggressive phenotypes with increased mobility and properties of cancer stemness to provide a potential therapeutic strategy for HNSCC patients, on the basis of targeting the IL-33-enhanced-CXCR4 regulatory circuit.