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Su X, Xu Y, Fox GC, Xiang J, Kwakwa KA, Davis JL, Belle JI, Lee WC, Wong WH, Fontana F, Hernandez-Aya LF, Kobayashi T, Tomasson HM, Su J, Bakewell SJ, Stewart SA, Egbulefu C, Karmakar P, Meyer MA, Veis DJ, DeNardo DG, Lanza GM, Achilefu S, Weilbaecher KN. Breast cancer-derived GM-CSF regulates arginase 1 in myeloid cells to promote an immunosuppressive microenvironment. J Clin Invest 2021; 131:e145296. [PMID: 34520398 DOI: 10.1172/jci145296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2020] [Accepted: 08/31/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Tumor-infiltrating myeloid cells contribute to the development of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Myeloid cell expression of arginase 1 (ARG1) promotes a protumor phenotype by inhibiting T cell function and depleting extracellular l-arginine, but the mechanism underlying this expression, especially in breast cancer, is poorly understood. In breast cancer clinical samples and in our mouse models, we identified tumor-derived GM-CSF as the primary regulator of myeloid cell ARG1 expression and local immune suppression through a gene-KO screen of breast tumor cell-produced factors. The induction of myeloid cell ARG1 required GM-CSF and a low pH environment. GM-CSF signaling through STAT3 and p38 MAPK and acid signaling through cAMP were required to activate myeloid cell ARG1 expression in a STAT6-independent manner. Importantly, breast tumor cell-derived GM-CSF promoted tumor progression by inhibiting host antitumor immunity, driving a significant accumulation of ARG1-expressing myeloid cells compared with lung and melanoma tumors with minimal GM-CSF expression. Blockade of tumoral GM-CSF enhanced the efficacy of tumor-specific adoptive T cell therapy and immune checkpoint blockade. Taken together, we show that breast tumor cell-derived GM-CSF contributes to the development of the immunosuppressive breast cancer microenvironment by regulating myeloid cell ARG1 expression and can be targeted to enhance breast cancer immunotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Wing H Wong
- Department of Medicine.,Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Sheila A Stewart
- Department of Medicine.,Department of Cell Biology and Physiology.,Siteman Cancer Center
| | | | | | | | - Deborah J Veis
- Department of Medicine.,Musculoskeletal Research Center, Histology and Morphometry Core, and.,Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - David G DeNardo
- Department of Medicine.,Siteman Cancer Center.,Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | | | | | - Katherine N Weilbaecher
- Department of Medicine.,Department of Cell Biology and Physiology.,Siteman Cancer Center.,Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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