Department of Cancer Genetics and Genomics, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York, USA.
Department of Immunology, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York, USA.
Int J Cancer. 2020 Oct 15;147(8):2279-2292. doi: 10.1002/ijc.33050. Epub 2020 May 28.
Patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) have limited therapeutic options and novel treatments are critically needed. Prior research implicates tumor-induced mobilization of myeloid cell populations in metastatic progression, as well as being an unfavorable outcome in MBC; however, the underlying mechanisms for these relationships remain unknown. Here, we provide evidence for a novel mechanism by which p38 promotes metastasis. Using triple-negative breast cancer models, we showed that a selective inhibitor of p38 (p38i) significantly reduced tumor growth, angiogenesis, and lung metastasis. Importantly, p38i decreased the accumulation of myeloid populations, namely, myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and CD163 tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). p38 controlled the expression of tumor-derived chemokines/cytokines that facilitated the recruitment of protumor myeloid populations. Depletion of MDSCs was accompanied by reduced TAM infiltration and phenocopied the antimetastatic effects of p38i. Reciprocally, p38i increased tumor infiltration by cytotoxic CD8 T cells. Furthermore, the CD163 /CD8 expression ratio inversely correlated with metastasis-free survival in breast cancer, suggesting that targeting p38 may improve clinical outcomes. Overall, our study highlights a previously unknown p38-driven pathway as a therapeutic target in MBC.
患有转移性乳腺癌 (MBC) 的患者治疗选择有限,迫切需要新的治疗方法。先前的研究表明,肿瘤诱导的髓样细胞群的迁移与转移性进展有关,并且是 MBC 的不利预后;然而,这些关系的潜在机制尚不清楚。在这里,我们提供了一种 p38 促进转移的新机制的证据。使用三阴性乳腺癌模型,我们表明,p38 的选择性抑制剂 (p38i) 可显著减少肿瘤生长、血管生成和肺转移。重要的是,p38i 减少了髓样细胞群的积累,即髓源性抑制细胞 (MDSC) 和 CD163 肿瘤相关巨噬细胞 (TAM)。p38 控制肿瘤衍生趋化因子/细胞因子的表达,促进促肿瘤髓样细胞群的募集。MDSC 的耗竭伴随着 TAM 浸润的减少,并模拟了 p38i 的抗转移作用。反过来,p38i 增加了肿瘤浸润的细胞毒性 CD8 T 细胞。此外,CD163/CD8 表达比与乳腺癌无复发生存率呈负相关,表明靶向 p38 可能改善临床结果。总体而言,我们的研究强调了以前未知的 p38 驱动途径作为 MBC 的治疗靶点。