Degranulation of mast cells induced by gastric cancer-derived adrenomedullin prompts gastric cancer progression

Mast cells are prominent components of solid tumors and exhibit distinct phenotypes in different tumor microenvironments. However, their precise mechanism of communication in gastric cancer remains largely unclear. Here, we found that patients with GC showed a significantly higher mast cell infiltration in tumors. Mast cell levels increased with tumor progression and independently predicted reduced overall survival. Tumor-derived adrenomedullin (ADM) induced mast cell degranulation via PI3K-AKT signaling pathway, which effectively promoted the proliferation and inhibited the apoptosis of GC cells in vitro and contributed to the growth and progression of GC tumors in vivo, and the effect could be reversed by blocking interleukin (IL)-17A production from these mast cells. Our results illuminate a novel protumorigenic role and associated mechanism of mast cells in GC, and also provide functional evidence for these mast cells to prevent, and to treat this immunopathogenesis feature of GC.