We further demonstrated that OPN facilitates chemotactic migration, and alternative activation of macrophages, and promotes the PD-L1 expression in HCC via activation of the CSF1-CSF1R pathway in macrophages.
The relationship between the expression of miR-148b and colony stimulating factor-1 (CSF1) in HCC patients and the infiltration of macrophages into the tumor microenvironment were assessed by immunohistochemical staining.
Clinical HCC samples exhibited a positive correlation between circASAP1 expression and levels of CSF-1, MAPK1, and CD68+ tumor-associated-macrophages, all of which were predictive of patient outcomes.Conclusion: We identified circASAP1 as a key regulator of HCC metastasis that acts on miR-326/miR-532-5p-MAPK1/CSF-1 signaling and serves as a prognostic predictor in patients with HCC.
Colony-stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1) and its receptor, CSF-1R, regulate the differentiation and function of macrophages and play an important role in macrophage infiltration in the context of hepatocellular carcinoma.