Shows that endothelial FAK deletion increases brain metastasis while reducing lung metastasis, suggesting unique regulatory roles for FAK in different vascular barriers.
Key Points
The research aimed to explore how endothelial focal adhesion kinase (FAK) impacts brain versus lung metastasis.
Created tamoxifen-inducible, EC-specific FAK knockout mice
Established brain and lung metastatic cell lines from murine lung cancer
Injected BrM cells into FAK-cKO mice and analyzed brain metastases using CUBIC
Evaluated lung metastases after tail vein injection of LuM cells
Endothelial FAK deletion reduced lung metastasis but increased brain metastasis
The number of brain metastases rose in FAK-cKO mice without changing lesion size
FAK-cKO mice showed no differences in adhesion molecule expression or BBB permeability
Primary brain ECs from FAK-cKO mice displayed internalization of PECAM-1 and VE-cadherin