4.7 Review

Collagen Remodeling along Cancer Progression Providing a Novel Opportunity for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

Journal

Publisher

MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/ijms231810509

Keywords

cancer; the extracellular matrix (ECM); collagen remodeling; interaction; mechanism; diagnosis; biomarker; therapeutic target; treatment

Funding

  1. National Natural Science Foundation of China [12104134]
  2. key specialized research and development breakthrough of He'nan province [212102310887, 212102310741]
  3. key scientific research projects of He'nan colleges and universities [21A416005]
  4. Luoyang Public Security Project [2101024A]

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Collagens play a significant role in cancer progression as the main component of the extracellular matrix (ECM). The interaction between collagens and tumor cells is complex, involving biochemical and mechanical signals. The remodeling of collagens during cancer development promotes tumor progression. Collagens have potential value in cancer diagnosis and prognosis, with fragments in serum reported as biomarkers. However, more research and drug development are needed to better understand the mechanisms and improve cancer treatment.
The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a significant factor in cancer progression. Collagens, as the main component of the ECM, are greatly remodeled alongside cancer development. More and more studies have confirmed that collagens changed from a barrier to providing assistance in cancer development. In this course, collagens cause remodeling alongside cancer progression, which in turn, promotes cancer development. The interaction between collagens and tumor cells is complex with biochemical and mechanical signals intervention through activating diverse signal pathways. As the mechanism gradually clears, it becomes a new target to find opportunities to diagnose and treat cancer. In this review, we investigated the process of collagen remodeling in cancer progression and discussed the interaction between collagens and cancer cells. Several typical effects associated with collagens were highlighted in the review, such as fibrillation in precancerous lesions, enhancing ECM stiffness, promoting angiogenesis, and guiding invasion. Then, the values of cancer diagnosis and prognosis were focused on. It is worth noting that several generated fragments in serum were reported to be able to be biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis, which is beneficial for clinic detection. At a glance, a variety of reported biomarkers were summarized. Many collagen-associated targets and drugs have been reported for cancer treatment in recent years. The new targets and related drugs were discussed in the review. The mass data were collected and classified by mechanism. Overall, the interaction of collagens and tumor cells is complicated, in which the mechanisms are not completely clear. A lot of collagen-associated biomarkers are excavated for cancer diagnosis. However, new therapeutic targets and related drugs are almost in clinical trials, with merely a few in clinical applications. So, more efforts are needed in collagens-associated studies and drug development for cancer research and treatment.

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