bims-tumime Biomed News
on Tumor microenvironment and metabolism
Issue of 2024–01–21
ten papers selected by
Alex Muir, University of Chicago
  1. Advances in macrophage and T cell metabolic reprogramming and immunotherapy in the tumor microenvironment.
  2. EGFR-driven lung adenocarcinomas coopt alveolar macrophage metabolism and function to support EGFR signaling and growth.
  3. Bacteria-derived L-lactate fuels cervical cancer chemoradiotherapy resistance.
  4. The extracellular matrix supports breast cancer cell growth under amino acid starvation by promoting tyrosine catabolism.
  5. Modulation of macrophage metabolism as an emerging immunotherapy strategy for cancer.
  6. Bacteria colonization in tumor microenvironment creates a favorable niche for immunogenic chemotherapy.
  7. Metabolic waypoints during T cell differentiation.
  8. Nutrient sensing in macrophages linked to reorganized tumor vasculature.
  9. The crosstalk of intratumor bacteria and the tumor.
  10. CD73 contributes to the pathogenesis of fusion-negative rhabdomyosarcoma through the purinergic signaling pathway.
  1. PeerJ. 2024 ;12 e16825
    Advances in macrophage and T cell metabolic reprogramming and immunotherapy in the tumor microenvironment.
    Hua Cheng, Yongbin Zheng.
      Macrophages and T cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) play an important role in tumorigenesis and progression. However, TME is also characterized by metabolic reprogramming, which may affect macrophage and metabolic activity of T cells and promote tumor escape. Immunotherapy is an approach to fight tumors by stimulating the immune system in the host, but requires support and modulation of cellular metabolism. In this process, the metabolic roles of macrophages and T cells become increasingly important, and their metabolic status and interactions play a critical role in the success of immunotherapy. Therefore, understanding the metabolic state of T cells and macrophages in the TME and the impact of metabolic reprogramming on tumor therapy will help optimize subsequent immunotherapy strategies.
    Keywords:  Immunotherapy; Macrophages; Metabolic reprogramming; T cells; Tumor microenvironment
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.16825
  2. Cancer Discov. 2024 Jan 19.
    EGFR-driven lung adenocarcinomas coopt alveolar macrophage metabolism and function to support EGFR signaling and growth.
    Alexandra Kuhlmann-Hogan, Thekla Cordes, Ziyan Xu, Ramya S Kuna, Kacie A Traina, Camila Robles-Oteiza, Deborah Ayeni, Elizabeth M Kwong, Stellar Levy, Anna-Maria Globig, Matthew M Nobari, George Z Cheng, Sandra L Leibel, Robert J Homer, Reuben J Shaw, Christian M Metallo, Katerina Politi, Susan M Kaech.
      The limited efficacy of currently approved immunotherapies in EGFR-driven lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) underscores the need to better understand alternative mechanisms governing local immunosuppression to fuel novel therapies. Elevated surfactant and GM-CSF secretion from the transformed epithelium induces tumor-associated alveolar macrophage (TA-AM) proliferation which supports tumor growth by rewiring inflammatory functions and lipid metabolism. TA-AM properties are driven by increased GM-CSF-PPARγ signaling and inhibition of airway GM-CSF or PPARγ in TA-AMs suppresses cholesterol efflux to tumor cells, which impairs EGFR phosphorylation and restrains LUAD progression. In the absence of TA-AM metabolic support, LUAD cells compensate by increasing cholesterol synthesis, and blocking PPARγ in TA-AMs simultaneous with statin therapy further suppresses tumor progression and increases proinflammatory immune responses. These results reveal new therapeutic combinations for immunotherapy resistant EGFR-mutant LUADs and demonstrate how cancer cells can metabolically co-opt TA-AMs through GM-CSF-PPARγ signaling to provide nutrients that promote oncogenic signaling and growth.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-23-0434
  3. Trends Cancer. 2024 Jan 18. pii: S2405-8033(24)00001-3. [Epub ahead of print]
    Bacteria-derived L-lactate fuels cervical cancer chemoradiotherapy resistance.
    Christopher D Johnston, Susan Bullman.
      Accumulating studies have demonstrated the presence of viable and metabolically active bacterial communities within a range of solid tumor types. However, the precise mechanisms by which these microbes modulate their infected tumor niches or impact patient responses to cancer treatments remain to be elucidated. Recently, Colbert et al. revealed that L-lactate produced by intratumoral Lactobacillus iners reprograms metabolic capabilities of cervical tumors to support chemoradiotherapy resistance. This finding has implications for many solid cancer types.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trecan.2024.01.001
  4. PLoS Biol. 2024 Jan;22(1): e3002406
    The extracellular matrix supports breast cancer cell growth under amino acid starvation by promoting tyrosine catabolism.
    Mona Nazemi, Bian Yanes, Montserrat Llanses Martinez, Heather J Walker, Khoa Pham, Mark O Collins, Frederic Bard, Elena Rainero.
      Breast tumours are embedded in a collagen I-rich extracellular matrix (ECM) network, where nutrients are scarce due to limited blood flow and elevated tumour growth. Metabolic adaptation is required for cancer cells to endure these conditions. Here, we demonstrated that the presence of ECM supported the growth of invasive breast cancer cells, but not non-transformed mammary epithelial cells, under amino acid starvation, through a mechanism that required macropinocytosis-dependent ECM uptake. Importantly, we showed that this behaviour was acquired during carcinoma progression. ECM internalisation, followed by lysosomal degradation, contributed to the up-regulation of the intracellular levels of several amino acids, most notably tyrosine and phenylalanine. This resulted in elevated tyrosine catabolism on ECM under starvation, leading to increased fumarate levels, potentially feeding into the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Interestingly, this pathway was required for ECM-dependent cell growth and invasive cell migration under amino acid starvation, as the knockdown of p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate hydroxylase-like protein (HPDL), the third enzyme of the pathway, opposed cell growth and motility on ECM in both 2D and 3D systems, without affecting cell proliferation on plastic. Finally, high HPDL expression correlated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. Collectively, our results highlight that the ECM in the tumour microenvironment (TME) represents an alternative source of nutrients to support cancer cell growth by regulating phenylalanine and tyrosine metabolism.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002406
  5. J Clin Invest. 2024 Jan 16. pii: e175445. [Epub ahead of print]134(2):
    Modulation of macrophage metabolism as an emerging immunotherapy strategy for cancer.
    Corey Dussold, Kaylee Zilinger, Jillyn Turunen, Amy B Heimberger, Jason Miska.
      Immunometabolism is a burgeoning field of research that investigates how immune cells harness nutrients to drive their growth and functions. Myeloid cells play a pivotal role in tumor biology, yet their metabolic influence on tumor growth and antitumor immune responses remains inadequately understood. This Review explores the metabolic landscape of tumor-associated macrophages, including the immunoregulatory roles of glucose, fatty acids, glutamine, and arginine, alongside the tools used to perturb their metabolism to promote antitumor immunity. The confounding role of metabolic inhibitors on our interpretation of myeloid metabolic phenotypes will also be discussed. A binary metabolic schema is currently used to describe macrophage immunological phenotypes, characterizing inflammatory M1 phenotypes, as supported by glycolysis, and immunosuppressive M2 phenotypes, as supported by oxidative phosphorylation. However, this classification likely underestimates the variety of states in vivo. Understanding these nuances will be critical when developing interventional metabolic strategies. Future research should focus on refining drug specificity and targeted delivery methods to maximize therapeutic efficacy.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI175445
  6. EMBO Mol Med. 2024 Jan 15.
    Bacteria colonization in tumor microenvironment creates a favorable niche for immunogenic chemotherapy.
    See-Khai Lim, Wen-Ching Lin, Sin-Wei Huang, Yi-Chung Pan, Che-Wei Hu, Chung-Yuan Mou, Che-Ming Jack Hu, Kurt Yun Mou.
      The tumor microenvironment (TME) presents differential selective pressure (DSP) that favors the growth of cancer cells, and monovalent therapy is often inadequate in reversing the cancer cell dominance in the TME. In this work, we introduce bacteria as a foreign species to the TME and explore combinatorial treatment strategies to alter DSP for tumor eradication. We show that cancer-selective chemotherapeutic agents and fasting can provide a strong selection pressure against tumor growth in the presence of bacteria. Moreover, we show that an immunogenic drug (oxaliplatin), but not a non-immunogenic one (5-FU), synergizes with the bacteria to activate both the innate and adaptive immunity in the TME, resulting in complete tumor remission and a sustained anti-tumor immunological memory in mice. The combination of oxaliplatin and bacteria greatly enhances the co-stimulatory and antigen-presenting molecules on antigen-presenting cells, which in turn bridge the cytotoxic T cells for cancer-cell killing. Our findings indicate that rational combination of bacterial therapy and immunogenic chemotherapy can promote anticancer immunity against the immunosuppressive TME.
    Keywords:  Bacteria Cancer Therapy; Differential Stress Resistance; Immunotherapy; Oxaliplatin; TME Remodeling
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s44321-023-00022-w
  7. Nat Immunol. 2024 Jan 18.
    Metabolic waypoints during T cell differentiation.
    Drew Wilfahrt, Greg M Delgoffe.
      This Review explores the interplay between T cell activation and cell metabolism and highlights how metabolites serve two pivotal functions in shaping the immune response. Traditionally, T cell activation has been characterized by T cell antigen receptor-major histocompatibility complex interaction (signal 1), co-stimulation (signal 2) and cytokine signaling (signal 3). However, recent research has unveiled the critical role of metabolites in this process. Firstly, metabolites act as signal propagators that aid in the transmission of core activation signals, such as specific lipid species that are crucial at the immune synapse. Secondly, metabolites also function as unique signals that influence immune differentiation pathways, such as amino acid-induced mTORC1 signaling. Metabolites also play a substantial role in epigenetic remodeling, by directly modifying histones, altering gene expression and influencing T cell behavior. This Review discusses how T cells integrate nutrient sensing with activating stimuli to shape their differentiation and sensitivity to metabolites. We underscore the integration of immunological and metabolic inputs in T cell function and suggest that metabolite availability is a fundamental determinant of adaptive immune responses.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-023-01733-5
  8. Cancer Res. 2024 Jan 19.
    Nutrient sensing in macrophages linked to reorganized tumor vasculature.
    Hilda L Chan, Xiang H-F Zhang.
      Macrophages are plastic immune cells that have varying functions dependent on stimulation from their environment. In a recent issue of Immunity, Do and colleagues demonstrated that activating mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 signaling in tumor macrophages alters their metabolism, localization, and function. Specifically, these tumor macrophages promote vascular remodeling that develops a hypoxic environment toxic to cancer cells. This culminates in a tangible reduction in tumor burden in a murine model of breast cancer. Their findings reveal a unique strategy to promote vascular remodeling through macrophage polarization and thereby highlight the intimate connections between macrophage metabolism and function. Additionally, their model highlights parallels between tumor progression and wound healing contexts while emphasizing the amplified effect of small perturbations to a tumor ecosystem.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-24-0201
  9. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2023 ;13 1273254
    The crosstalk of intratumor bacteria and the tumor.
    Jiating Huang, Yuqin Mao, Lishun Wang.
      The in-depth studies reveal the interaction between the host and commensal microbiomes. Symbiotic bacteria influence in tumor initiation, progression, and response to treatment. Recently, intratumor bacteria have been a burgeoning research field. The tumor microenvironment is under vascular hyperplasia, aerobic glycolysis, hypoxia, and immunosuppression. It might be attractive for bacterial growth and proliferation. As a component of the tumor microenvironment, intratumor bacteria influence tumor growth and metastasis, as well as the efficacy of anti-tumor therapies. Therefore, understanding the intricate interplay of intratumoral bacteria and the host might contribute to better approaches to treat tumors. In this review, we summarize current evidence about roles of intratumor bacteria in tumor initiation and anti-tumor therapy, and what is remained to be solved in this field.
    Keywords:  bacteria; immune; intratumor; therapy; tumor
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2023.1273254
  10. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Jan 23. 121(4): e2315925121
    CD73 contributes to the pathogenesis of fusion-negative rhabdomyosarcoma through the purinergic signaling pathway.
    Karla Cano Hernandez, Akansha M Shah, Victor A Lopez, Vincent S Tagliabracci, Kenian Chen, Lin Xu, Rhonda Bassel-Duby, Eric N Olson, Ning Liu.
      Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common type of soft tissue sarcoma in children and adolescents. Fusion-negative RMS (FN-RMS) accounts for more than 80% of all RMS cases. The long-term event-free survival rate for patients with high-grade FN-RMS is below 30%, highlighting the need for improved therapeutic strategies. CD73 is a 5' ectonucleotidase that hydrolyzes AMP to adenosine and regulates the purinergic signaling pathway. We found that CD73 is elevated in FN-RMS tumors that express high levels of TWIST2. While high expression of CD73 contributes to the pathogenesis of multiple cancers, its role in FN-RMS has not been investigated. We found that CD73 knockdown decreased FN-RMS cell growth while up-regulating the myogenic differentiation program. Moreover, mutation of the catalytic residues of CD73 rendered the protein enzymatically inactive and abolished its ability to stimulate FN-RMS growth. Overexpression of wildtype CD73, but not the catalytically inactive mutant, in CD73 knockdown FN-RMS cells restored their growth capacity. Likewise, treatment with an adenosine receptor A2A-B agonist partially rescued FN-RMS cell proliferation and bypassed the CD73 knockdown defective growth phenotype. These results demonstrate that the catalytic activity of CD73 contributes to the pathogenic growth of FN-RMS through the activation of the purinergic signaling pathway. Therefore, targeting CD73 and the purinergic signaling pathway represents a potential therapeutic approach for FN-RMS patients.
    Keywords:  Cell biology; cell signaling; pediatric cancer; sarcoma
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2315925121
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