Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (
PPARs) are ligand-activated nuclear hormone receptors (NHRs) and pivotal regulators in a series of lipid metabolic bioactivities, including adipocyte differentiation, lipid transportation and energy metabolism.
PPARs isoforms can act as pro- or anti-tumorigenic factors. Preclinical or clinical evidence has proven that
PPAR agonists or antagonists play critical roles in tumor metabolic reprogramming, cellular environmental homeostasis, and drug response [
24,
25]. High-fat diet (HFD) was reported to contribute to CRC progression and liver metastasis, and
PPARD antagonists could reverse this condition and might be beneficial for CRC treatment [
26].
PPARs can induce FAO programming to maintain renewal of intestinal stem cells (ISCs) under HFD conditions [
13]. In addition, HFD could also affect intestinal stem cell homeostasis through
PPARs,
mTORC1,
Wnt/GSK-3β, or
PTEN pathways [
27]. Controversially,
PPARs play different roles in tumor progression. In our previous study, we have demonstrated that
SLC27A2 regulated FA uptake and cell biological behavior in a metabolic manner in CRC cell lines. Previous studies revealed that
SLC27A2 regulated FAO to support ISC renewal [
28], and mediated immune suppressive activity for myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in CRC mouse models [
17]. We investigated the expression of
PPARs and found differentially expressed levels in CRC.
PPARs had a relatively close relationship with
SLC27A2 in CRC (Fig.
1). As important factors for proliferation, apoptosis and energy metabolism, the ratios of
p-Erk/Erk and
p-GSK3β/GSK3β varied when
SLC27A2 was overexpressed or knocked down via non-genic crosstalk regulation of
PPARG (Fig.
5). Additionally, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) effective for CRC patients when the genetic phenotypes are mismatch-repair-deficient or microsatellite instability-high (dMMR/MSI-H) [
29]. Recent studies have shown that
PPARG induces programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in CRC [
30]. Encouragingly, targeting
PPARs may be a new anti-tumor strategy.
The solute carrier protein (
SLC) family is the second largest class of transmembrane transporters and is a potential drug target [
31]. SLC27s (
SLC27A1 ~
6) are protein-encoding families involved in lipids metabolism. Fatty acid transport proteins (
FATP1 ~
6) play pivotal roles in fatty acid uptake and fatty acyl-CoA synthetase activity [
32]. In this study, we found that
SLC27A2 was elevated in CRC (Fig.
1). Additionally, we have proved that
SLC27A2 played a critical role in biological behavior and was mechanically regulated via the FA metabolic pathway in CRC cell lines. Consistently, the expression of
SLC27A2 in colorectal cancer tissues was also higher to paired para-cancerous tissues in our ongoing study. The preliminary results indicated that knockdown of
SLC27A2 may reduce tumor burden in preclinical animal model. The differences between isolated cancer cells and paired normal colon cells from the models can be further analyzed by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) or metabonomics analysis. By protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis, we found that
SLC27A2 had an obvious correlation with FAO–related genes (Fig.
2) and demonstrated that the mRNA expression levels of the genes were elevated when
SLC27A2 was overexpressed or reduced when
SLC27A2 was knocked down (Fig.
3). Considerable evidence has revealed that
SLC27A2 is related to various metabolic disorders or diseases, such as lipotoxicity, oxidative stress and energy production, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), kidney fibrosis, and cancers [
33,
34]. Additionally,
SLC27A2 regulated the function and number of peroxisomes in CRC (Fig.
4). Peroxisomes are metabolic organelles. Extensive studies have revealed the functional significance of peroxisomes, which are involved in FAO, cellular redox homeostasis, lipolysis and immunometabolism. The pathogenesis of cancer can be mediated by peroxisomes [
35,
36].
SLC27A2 could regulate cells peroxisomes and mitochondria FAO in melanoma cells to induce drug resistance [
37]. In addition,
SLC27A2 regulated peroxisomes and mitochondria FAO to maintain ISC renewal [
28]. Investigation of peroxisomes might provide new targeted therapeutic strategies. In our study, we explored the relationship between
SLC27A2 and FAO metabolic genes, and found
SLC27A2 could regulate FAO metabolic genes expression (Fig.
3). Metabolic reprogramming is a hallmark of malignant cells or the tumor microenvironment (TME), and cells adapt their metabolism to sustain biological processes [
38]. Infiltrating immune cells play pivotal roles in the TME and coordinate immunosurveillance [
39]. MDSCs mediates immune escape in cancer progression.
FATP2 was exclusively elevated in MDSCs and regulated the function of MDSCs via the lipid metabolic pathways [
17]. Targeting
FATP2 could modulate lipid metabolism and reduce reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in MDSCs, thus enhancing ICIs efficacy [
40]. In addition,
FATP2 regulated lipids metabolism in melanoma and induced resistance to targeted therapy. Inhibiting
FATP2 strongly overcame the phenotype [
37].
PPARs regulate cancer cell progression through crosstalk with oncogenes or suppressor genes [
41]. Previous study showed that
SLC39A1 impaired tumor metabolism and regulated ell proliferation, migration, and cell cycle through the
PPAR crosstalk regulation in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) [
42]. In our research, we investigated the crosstalk between
PPARs and
SLC27A2, and found non-genic crosstalk regulation of
PPARs through
p-Erk/Erk and
p-GSK3β/GSK3β to influence FA metabolic reprogramming in CRC. Taken together, these findings might provide novel insights for cancer treatment. Targeting
SLC27A2/FATP2 or
PPARs may identify new anti-tumor strategies, especially in metabolic therapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, immunometabolism or combinations.