Epithelial-mesenchymal transition and metastasis of colon cancer cells induced by the FAK pathway in cancer-associated fibroblasts.

Objective: The role and mechanism of tetrathiomolybdate (TM) in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in colon cancer using three-dimensional (3D) culture were investigated, and the associations between the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) pathway and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in CAFs were explored.

Methods: A 3D co-culture model of colon cancer LOVO cells with CAFs and normal fibroblasts (NFs) was established using Matrigel as a scaffold material. The differential expression of LOXL2 (lysyl oxidase-like 2) in the supernatant of CAFs and NFs was determined using ELISA, and expression levels of EMT-related proteins and FAK signaling pathway-related proteins were determined using western blot.

Pharmacology of a traditional Chinese herb, Shuangren-Anshen capsule, in a hemorrhage mouse model by using an orthogonal array design.

Shuangren-Anshen capsule (SAC) is a traditional Chinese herb that was improved in our laboratory. An orthogonal experiment [L9(3)(4)] was used to optimize the extraction conditions. In vivo, a hemorrhage mouse model was established and the hemoglobin contents of normal control, model control, and treated mice were measured.