Transitional CXCL14 + cancer‐associated fibroblasts enhance tumour metastasis and confer resistance to EGFR‐TKIs, revealing therapeutic vulnerability to filgotinib in lung adenocarcinoma

作者：Weijiao Xu, Haitang Yang, Ke Xu, Anshun Zhu, Sean R. R. Hall, Yunxuan Jia, Baicheng Zhao, Enshuo Zhang, Gang Liu, Jianlin Xu, Thomas M. Marti, Ren‐Wang Peng, Patrick Dorn, Yongliang Niu, Xufeng Pan, Yajuan Zhang, Feng Yao · 发表于：Clinical and Translational Medicine · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1002/ctm2.70281 · 被引用次数：16 · 研究领域：Cancer Cells and Metastasis、Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics、Lung Cancer Treatments and Mutations

BACKGROUND: The heterogeneity of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) has become a crucial focus in understanding cancer biology and treatment response, revealing distinct subpopulations with specific roles in tumor pathobiology. CAFs have also been shown to promote resistance in lung cancer cells to epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs). However, the specific CAF subsets responsible for driving tumor advancement and resistance to EGFR-TKIs in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remain poorly understood. METHODS: We integrate multiple scRNA-seq datasets to identify cell subclusters most relevant to tumor stage, patient survival, and EGFR-TKIs response. Additionally, in vitro and in vivo experiments, clinical tissue sample immunohistochemistry and patient plasma ELISA experiments are performed to validate key findings in independent LUAD cohorts. RESULTS: By analyzing multiple scRNA-seq and spatial transcriptomic datasets, we identified a unique subset of CXCL14+ myofibroblastic CAFs (myCAFs), emerging during the early differentiation phase of pan-cancer invasiveness-associated THBS2⁺ POSTN⁺ COL11A1⁺ myCAFs. Notably, plasma levels of CXCL14 in LUAD patients correlate significantly with tumor stage. Mechanistically, this subset enhances tumor aggressiveness through epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and angiogenesis. Among standard treatment regimens, transitional CXCL14+ myCAFs specifically confer resistance to EGFR-TKIs, while showing no significant...