{"title":"CircERC1 facilitates chemoresistance through inhibiting pyroptosis and remodeling extracellular matrix in pancreatic cancer","authors":"Jian Zhang, Shengnan Lv, Xinyu Peng, Huan Liu, Jianxiong Guo, Ziyu Liu, Tongjia Chu, Han Liu, Kehang Duan, Fengxiang Lou, Yubo Chi, Bing Gao, Yan Liu, Feng Wei","doi":"10.1186/s12943-025-02385-9","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) resists to neoadjuvant treatment even though overall survival (OS) is transiently prolonged while the underlying mechanism of this drug resistance remains elusive. Gemcitabine combined with Nab-paclitaxel (GEM-NabP) treated PDAC tissues-derived EVs were isolated and underwent circRNA sequencing. CircERC1 was identified as an EVs-packaged circRNA that regulates PDAC progression and tumor microenvironment (TME) in vitro and in vivo with the help of EdU, colony formation, SRB viability assays, transwell assays and PET-CT analysis. The underlying mechanism was substantiated by qRT-PCR, Western blot, RNA pull-down, mass spectrometry, RNA immunoprecipitation and Co-immunoprecipitation. In addition, single-cell RNA sequencing was adopted to analyze the TME and immunohistochemistry, dual luciferase reporter assay were performed to validate the results. CircERC1 biogenesis is activated by QKI after GEM-NabP treatment. It interacts with hnRNPA1 and promotes its ubiquitination degradation by blocking its SUMOylation at K183. The degraded hnRNPA1 fails to upregulate PKM2, a crucial activator of NLRP3 inflammasome, thereby inhibiting Caspase1-GSDMD mediated pyroptosis. Furthermore, EVs-packaged circERC1 enhances extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition and hindering drug and immune cells infiltration in cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in PDAC microenvironment. Our findings reveal a novel circERC1 as a key regulator in PDAC-secreted EVs following paclitaxel (PTX) treatment, thereby inhibiting gemcitabine/Nab-paclitaxel (GEM-NabP) induced pyroptosis. Our results highlight a potential therapeutic target for overcoming chemoresistance and remodeling pancreatic TME.","PeriodicalId":19000,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Cancer","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":33.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Molecular Cancer","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12943-025-02385-9","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) resists to neoadjuvant treatment even though overall survival (OS) is transiently prolonged while the underlying mechanism of this drug resistance remains elusive. Gemcitabine combined with Nab-paclitaxel (GEM-NabP) treated PDAC tissues-derived EVs were isolated and underwent circRNA sequencing. CircERC1 was identified as an EVs-packaged circRNA that regulates PDAC progression and tumor microenvironment (TME) in vitro and in vivo with the help of EdU, colony formation, SRB viability assays, transwell assays and PET-CT analysis. The underlying mechanism was substantiated by qRT-PCR, Western blot, RNA pull-down, mass spectrometry, RNA immunoprecipitation and Co-immunoprecipitation. In addition, single-cell RNA sequencing was adopted to analyze the TME and immunohistochemistry, dual luciferase reporter assay were performed to validate the results. CircERC1 biogenesis is activated by QKI after GEM-NabP treatment. It interacts with hnRNPA1 and promotes its ubiquitination degradation by blocking its SUMOylation at K183. The degraded hnRNPA1 fails to upregulate PKM2, a crucial activator of NLRP3 inflammasome, thereby inhibiting Caspase1-GSDMD mediated pyroptosis. Furthermore, EVs-packaged circERC1 enhances extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition and hindering drug and immune cells infiltration in cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in PDAC microenvironment. Our findings reveal a novel circERC1 as a key regulator in PDAC-secreted EVs following paclitaxel (PTX) treatment, thereby inhibiting gemcitabine/Nab-paclitaxel (GEM-NabP) induced pyroptosis. Our results highlight a potential therapeutic target for overcoming chemoresistance and remodeling pancreatic TME.
期刊介绍:
Molecular Cancer is a platform that encourages the exchange of ideas and discoveries in the field of cancer research, particularly focusing on the molecular aspects. Our goal is to facilitate discussions and provide insights into various areas of cancer and related biomedical science. We welcome articles from basic, translational, and clinical research that contribute to the advancement of understanding, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.
The scope of topics covered in Molecular Cancer is diverse and inclusive. These include, but are not limited to, cell and tumor biology, angiogenesis, utilizing animal models, understanding metastasis, exploring cancer antigens and the immune response, investigating cellular signaling and molecular biology, examining epidemiology, genetic and molecular profiling of cancer, identifying molecular targets, studying cancer stem cells, exploring DNA damage and repair mechanisms, analyzing cell cycle regulation, investigating apoptosis, exploring molecular virology, and evaluating vaccine and antibody-based cancer therapies.
Molecular Cancer serves as an important platform for sharing exciting discoveries in cancer-related research. It offers an unparalleled opportunity to communicate information to both specialists and the general public. The online presence of Molecular Cancer enables immediate publication of accepted articles and facilitates the presentation of large datasets and supplementary information. This ensures that new research is efficiently and rapidly disseminated to the scientific community.