In the past decades, transcriptomic studies have revolutionized cancer treatment and diagnosis. However, tumor sequencing strategies typically result in loss of spatial information, critical to ...understand cell interactions and their functional relevance. To address this, we investigate spatial gene expression in HER2-positive breast tumors using Spatial Transcriptomics technology. We show that expression-based clustering enables data-driven tumor annotation and assessment of intra- and interpatient heterogeneity; from which we discover shared gene signatures for immune and tumor processes. By integration with single cell data, we spatially map tumor-associated cell types to find tertiary lymphoid-like structures, and a type I interferon response overlapping with regions of T-cell and macrophage subset colocalization. We construct a predictive model to infer presence of tertiary lymphoid-like structures, applicable across tissue types and technical platforms. Taken together, we combine different data modalities to define a high resolution map of cellular interactions in tumors and provide tools generalizing across tissues and diseases.
Abstract
Neutrophils are an essential part of the innate immune system. To study their importance, experimental studies often aim to deplete these cells, generally by injecting anti-Ly6G or anti-Gr1 ...antibodies. However, these approaches are only partially effective, transient or lack specificity. Here we report that neutrophils remaining after anti-Ly6G treatment are newly derived from the bone marrow, instead of depletion escapees. Mechanistically, newly generated, circulating neutrophils have lower Ly6G membrane expression, and consequently reduced targets for anti-Ly6G-mediated depletion. To overcome this limitation, we develop a double antibody-based depletion strategy that enhances neutrophil elimination by anti-Ly6G treatment. This approach achieves specific, durable and controlled reduction of neutrophils in vivo, and may be suitable for studying neutrophil function in experimental models.
Tumor-infiltrating myeloid cells (TIMs) comprise monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, and neutrophils, and have emerged as key regulators of cancer growth. These cells can diversify into ...a spectrum of states, which might promote or limit tumor outgrowth but remain poorly understood. Here, we used single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to map TIMs in non-small-cell lung cancer patients. We uncovered 25 TIM states, most of which were reproducibly found across patients. To facilitate translational research of these populations, we also profiled TIMs in mice. In comparing TIMs across species, we identified a near-complete congruence of population structures among dendritic cells and monocytes; conserved neutrophil subsets; and species differences among macrophages. By contrast, myeloid cell population structures in patients’ blood showed limited overlap with those of TIMs. This study determines the lung TIM landscape and sets the stage for future investigations into the potential of TIMs as immunotherapy targets.
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•Human dendritic cell and monocyte subsets show one-to-one equivalence in mouse•Neutrophils exhibit tumor-associated phenotypes that are conserved across species•Myeloid subsets in patient blood only partially overlap with those in their tumors•Unique markers define myeloid cell subsets and associate with clinical prognosis
Tumor-infiltrating myeloid cells (TIMs) have emerged as key cancer regulators and potential next-generation immunotherapy targets, yet they remain incompletely understood. Using scRNA-seq, Zilionis et al. map the TIM landscape in human and murine lung tumors and systematically compare cell states, revealing conserved myeloid populations across individuals and species.
Checkpoint blockade immunotherapies can be extraordinarily effective, but might benefit only the minority of patients whose tumors are pre-infiltrated by T cells. Here, using lung adenocarcinoma ...mouse models, including genetic models, we show that autochthonous tumors that lacked T cell infiltration and resisted current treatment options could be successfully sensitized to host antitumor T cell immunity when appropriately selected immunogenic drugs (e.g., oxaliplatin combined with cyclophosphamide for treatment against tumors expressing oncogenic Kras and lacking Trp53) were used. The antitumor response was triggered by direct drug actions on tumor cells, relied on innate immune sensing through toll-like receptor 4 signaling, and ultimately depended on CD8+ T cell antitumor immunity. Furthermore, instigating tumor infiltration by T cells sensitized tumors to checkpoint inhibition and controlled cancer durably. These findings indicate that the proportion of cancers responding to checkpoint therapy can be feasibly and substantially expanded by combining checkpoint blockade with immunogenic drugs.
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•Kras/Trp53 mutant tumors lack CD8+ T cells and resist chemo- and immunotherapies•Immunogenic chemotherapy elicits tumor T cell infiltration and controls cancer growth•Tumor control requires CD8+ T cells, TLR4+ cells, and drug actions on cancer cells•T cell influx sensitizes tumors to checkpoint inhibition and durably controls cancer
There is an urgent need to expand the proportion of patients that respond to immune checkpoint therapy. Using clinically relevant genetic mouse models and a combination of immunogenic drugs to trigger T cell infiltration into tumors, Pittet and colleagues are able to make unresponsive tumors sensitive to checkpoint blockade therapy.
Involvement of the immune system in tumour progression is at the forefront of cancer research. Analysis of the tumour immune microenvironment has yielded a wealth of information on tumour biology, ...and alterations in some immune subtypes, such as tumour-associated macrophages (TAM), can be strong prognostic indicators. Here, we use optical tissue clearing and a TAM-targeting injectable fluorescent nanoparticle (NP) to examine three-dimensional TAM composition, tumour-to-tumour heterogeneity, response to colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF-1R) blockade and nanoparticle-based drug delivery in murine pulmonary carcinoma. The method allows for rapid tumour volume assessment and spatial information on TAM infiltration at the cellular level in entire lungs. This method reveals that TAM density was heterogeneous across tumours in the same animal, overall TAM density is different among separate pulmonary tumour models, nanotherapeutic drug delivery correlated with TAM heterogeneity, and successful response to CSF-1R blockade is characterized by enhanced TAM penetration throughout and within tumours.
Cyclophosphamide is one of several clinically important cancer drugs whose therapeutic efficacy is due in part to their ability to stimulate antitumor immune responses. Studying mouse models, we ...demonstrate that cyclophosphamide alters the composition of microbiota in the small intestine and induces the translocation of selected species of Gram-positive bacteria into secondary lymphoid organs. There, these bacteria stimulate the generation of a specific subset of "pathogenic" T helper 17 (pT H 17) cells and memory T H 1 immune responses. Tumor-bearing mice that were germ-free or that had been treated with antibiotics to kill Gram-positive bacteria showed a reduction in pT H 17 responses, and their tumors were resistant to cyclophosphamide. Adoptive transfer of pT H 17 cells partially restored the antitumor efficacy of cyclophosphamide. These results suggest that the gut microbiota help shape the anticancer immune response.
Some of the anti-neoplastic effects of anthracyclines in mice originate from the induction of innate and T cell-mediated anticancer immune responses. Here we demonstrate that anthracyclines stimulate ...the rapid production of type I interferons (IFNs) by malignant cells after activation of the endosomal pattern recognition receptor Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3). By binding to IFN-α and IFN-β receptors (IFNARs) on neoplastic cells, type I IFNs trigger autocrine and paracrine circuitries that result in the release of chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 10 (CXCL10). Tumors lacking Tlr3 or Ifnar failed to respond to chemotherapy unless type I IFN or Cxcl10, respectively, was artificially supplied. Moreover, a type I IFN-related signature predicted clinical responses to anthracycline-based chemotherapy in several independent cohorts of patients with breast carcinoma characterized by poor prognosis. Our data suggest that anthracycline-mediated immune responses mimic those induced by viral pathogens. We surmise that such 'viral mimicry' constitutes a hallmark of successful chemotherapy.
Immunogenic cell death (ICD) converts dying cancer cells into a therapeutic vaccine and stimulates antitumor immune responses. Here we unravel the results of an unbiased screen identifying high-dose ...(10 µM) crizotinib as an ICD-inducing tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has exceptional antineoplastic activity when combined with non-ICD inducing chemotherapeutics like cisplatin. The combination of cisplatin and high-dose crizotinib induces ICD in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) cells and effectively controls the growth of distinct (transplantable, carcinogen- or oncogene induced) orthotopic NSCLC models. These anticancer effects are linked to increased T lymphocyte infiltration and are abolished by T cell depletion or interferon-γ neutralization. Crizotinib plus cisplatin leads to an increase in the expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 in tumors, coupled to a strong sensitization of NSCLC to immunotherapy with PD-1 antibodies. Hence, a sequential combination treatment consisting in conventional chemotherapy together with crizotinib, followed by immune checkpoint blockade may be active against NSCLC.
Efficient delivery of therapeutic nanoparticles (TNPs) to tumors is critical in improving efficacy, yet strategies that universally maximize tumoral targeting by TNP modification have been difficult ...to achieve in the clinic. Instead of focusing on TNP optimization, we show that the tumor microenvironment itself can be therapeutically primed to facilitate accumulation of multiple clinically relevant TNPs. Building on the recent finding that tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) can serve as nanoparticle drug depots, we demonstrate that local tumor irradiation substantially increases TAM relative to tumor cells and, thus, TNP delivery. High-resolution intravital imaging reveals that after radiation, TAM primarily accumulate adjacent to microvasculature, elicit dynamic bursts of extravasation, and subsequently enhance drug uptake in neighboring tumor cells. TAM depletion eliminates otherwise beneficial radiation effects on TNP accumulation and efficacy, and controls with unencapsulated drug show that radiation effects are more pronounced with TNPs. Priming with combined radiation and cyclophosphamide enhances vascular bursting and tumoral TNP concentration, in some cases leading to a sixfold increase of TNP accumulation in the tumor, reaching 6% of the injected dose per gram of tissue. Radiation therapy alters tumors for enhanced TNP delivery in a TAM-dependent fashion, and these observations have implications for the design of next-generation tumor-targeted nanomaterials and clinical trials for adjuvant strategies.
Tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (tEVs) are important signals in tumor–host cell communication, yet it remains unclear how endogenously produced tEVs affect the host in different areas of the ...body. We combined imaging and genetic analysis to track melanoma-derived vesicles at organismal, cellular, and molecular scales to show that endogenous tEVs efficiently disseminate via lymphatics and preferentially bind subcapsular sinus (SCS) CD169⁺ macrophages in tumor-draining lymph nodes (tdLNs) in mice and humans. The CD169⁺ macrophage layer physically blocks tEV dissemination but is undermined during tumor progression and by therapeutic agents. A disrupted SCS macrophage barrier enables tEVs to enter the lymph node cortex, interact with B cells, and foster tumor-promoting humoral immunity. Thus, CD169⁺ macrophages may act as tumor suppressors by containing tEV spread and ensuing cancer-enhancing immunity.
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