Department of Cancer Immunology and AIDS, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.
Genentech, South San Francisco, California.
Cancer Immunol Res. 2018 Dec;6(12):1472-1485. doi: 10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-18-0098. Epub 2018 Sep 28.
Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are generally associated with poor clinical outcome. CAFs support tumor growth in a variety of ways and can suppress antitumor immunity and response to immunotherapy. However, a precise understanding of CAF contributions to tumor growth and therapeutic response is lacking. Discrepancies in this field of study may stem from heterogeneity in the composition and function of fibroblasts in the tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether CAFs directly interact with and suppress T cells. Here, mouse and human breast tumors were used to examine stromal cells expressing fibroblast activation protein (FAP), a surface marker for CAFs. Two discrete populations of FAP mesenchymal cells were identified on the basis of podoplanin (PDPN) expression: a FAPPDPN population of CAFs and a FAPPDPN population of cancer-associated pericytes (CAPs). Although both subsets expressed extracellular matrix molecules, the CAF transcriptome was enriched in genes associated with TGFβ signaling and fibrosis compared with CAPs. In addition, CAFs were enriched at the outer edge of the tumor, in close contact with T cells, whereas CAPs were localized around vessels. Finally, FAPPDPN CAFs suppressed the proliferation of T cells in a nitric oxide-dependent manner, whereas FAPPDPN pericytes were not immunosuppressive. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that breast tumors contain multiple populations of FAP-expressing stromal cells of dichotomous function, phenotype, and location.
癌症相关成纤维细胞(CAFs)通常与不良临床预后相关。CAFs 通过多种方式支持肿瘤生长,并能抑制抗肿瘤免疫和免疫治疗反应。然而,对于 CAF 对肿瘤生长和治疗反应的贡献,人们仍缺乏精确的认识。这一研究领域的差异可能源于肿瘤微环境中成纤维细胞组成和功能的异质性。此外,CAFs 是否直接与 T 细胞相互作用并抑制其功能仍不清楚。本研究利用小鼠和人乳腺癌肿瘤,检测了表达成纤维细胞活化蛋白(FAP)的基质细胞,FAP 是 CAFs 的表面标志物。基于 podoplanin(PDPN)表达,鉴定出两种离散的 FAP 间充质细胞群:CAF 表达的 FAPPDPN 群和癌症相关周细胞(CAPs)表达的 FAPPDPN 群。尽管这两个亚群都表达细胞外基质分子,但与 CAPs 相比,CAF 的转录组富含与 TGFβ 信号和纤维化相关的基因。此外,CAFs 富集在肿瘤的外边缘,与 T 细胞密切接触,而 CAPs 则定位于血管周围。最后,FAPPDPN CAFs 以依赖一氧化氮的方式抑制 T 细胞增殖,而 FAPPDPN 周细胞则没有免疫抑制作用。综上所述,这些发现表明,乳腺癌肿瘤包含具有二分功能、表型和位置的多种 FAP 表达基质细胞群体。