In the current study, DDR1 has been identified as a cancer-associated receptor tyrosine kinase that is highly expressed in several malignancies relative to normal tissues.
29 As an important receptor, DDR1 can bind all types of collagens and could influence their signalling upon collagen stimulation.
30 It has been reported that the phosphorylation of DDR1 could activate the WNT/β-catenin and AKT/mTOR signaling to drive cancer cell metastasis and progression.
31,32 We observed that pY792 DDR1, the active form of DDR1, was upregulated by COL5A2 overexpression in HCT116 and SW620 cells (Figure 4D).
These observations indicate that
COL5A2 expression upregulates WNT/β-catenin and PI3K/mTOR signaling via binding DDR1 with phosphorylation and activation of this receptor, which might contribute to CRC tumorigenesis or progression.