Colonic stem cells from normal tissues adjacent to tumor drive inflammation and fibrosis in colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: In colorectal cancer (CRC), the normal tissue adjacent to tumor (NAT) communicates actively with the tumor. Adult stem cells from the colon play a crucial role in the development of the colonic epithelium. In the tumor microenvironment, however, it is unclear what changes have occurred in colonic stem cells derived from NAT. METHODS: Using an intestinal stem cell culture system, we cultured colonic cells from NAT and paired CRC tissue, as well as cells from healthy tissue (HLT). Clonogenicity and differentiation ability were used to compare the function of clones from NAT, HLT and CRC tissues. RNA high-throughput sequencing of these clones was used to identify the molecular characteristics of NAT-derived clones. Coculture of clones from HLT and CRC was used to assess molecular changes. RESULTS: We found that the morphological characteristics, clonogenic ability, and differentiation ability of NAT-derived clones were consistent with those of HLT-derived clones. However, NAT-derived clones changed at the molecular level. A number of genes were specifically activated in NAT. NAT-derived clones enriched pathways related to inflammation and fibrosis, including epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) pathway and TGF-beta signaling pathway. Our results also confirmed that NAT-derived clones could recruit fibroblasts in mice. In addition, HLT-derived clones showed high expression of FOSB when cocultured with tumor cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that colonic stem cells from NAT in the tumor microenvironment undergo changes at the molecular level, and these molecular characteristics can be maintained in vitro, which can induce fibrosis and an inflammatory response. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12964-023-01140-1.