TABLE 2.

Function of FSTL3 in different types of cancer.

Tumor	Function and mechanisms of FSTL3	Ref
Gastric cancer	FSTL3 may be a potential binding partner of ADAM12. FSTL3 and ADAM12 perform similar functions to regulate tumor metastasis and immune infiltration in gastric cancer. In addition, FSTL3 overexpression promotes F-actin and BMP/SMAD signaling to activate EMT and M2 macrophage activation	Zhu et al. (2022), Liu et al. (2021a)
Colorectal cancer	FSTL3 can act as a bridging molecule for the crosstalk between HIPPO/YAP1 and Wnt/β-catenin pathways. Activation of YAP1 induces FSTL3 expression, which in turn activates the β-catenin pathway. β-catenin can induce YAP1, which trans-activates FSTL3, thereby forming a positive feedback loop and promoting EMT, aerobic glycolysis, invasion and metastasis of colorectal cancer cells. In addition, FSTL3 is associated with chemoresistance in lymph node metastasis and can be used as a marker of poor prognosis	Li et al. (2021a) Liu et al. (2021b), Yang et al. (2021)
NSCLC	LncRNA DSCAM-AS1 and miR-122-5P can elevate FSTL3 expression and promote the proliferation and migration of NSCLC.	Gao et al. (2020)
Renal cell carcinoma	FSTL3 enhances the proliferation and metastasis of renal cell carcinoma through the GSK3β/β-catenin signaling pathway	Sun et al. (2021)
Thyroid cancer	LBX2-AS1 promotes thyroid cancer development by recruiting RARα to regulate FSTL3 expression	Li et al. (2021b)
Breast cancer	FSTL3 can be used to differentiate breast cancer from benign lesions	Panagiotou et al. (2019)