Abstract Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are part of the tumour microenvironment and have been implicated in tumour progression. We found the number of MSCs significantly increased in tumour-burdened mice driven by Fas-threshold signalling. Consequently, MSCs lacking Fas lost their ability to induce metastasis development in a pancreatic cancer model. Mixing of MSCs with pancreatic cancer cells led to sustained production of the pro-metastatic cytokines CCL2 and IL6 by the stem cells. The levels of these cytokines depended on the number of MSCs, linking Fas-mediated MSC-proliferation to their capacity to promote tumour progression. Furthermore, we discovered that CCL2 and IL6 were induced by pancreatic cancer cell-derived IL1. Analysis of patient transcriptomic data revealed that high FasL expression correlates with high levels of MSC markers as well as increased IL6 and CCL2 in pancreatic tumours. Moreover, both FasL and CCL2 are linked to elevated levels of markers specific for monocytes known to possess further pro-metastatic activities. These results confirm our experimental findings of a FasL-MSC-IL1-CCL2/IL6 axis in pancreatic cancer and highlight the role MSCs play in tumour progression.

Fas-threshold signalling in MSCs causes tumour progression and metastasis