Breast Phyllodes Tumors Recruit and Repolarize Tumor-Associated Macrophages via Secreting CCL5 to Promote Malignant Progression, Which Can Be Inhibited by CCR5 Inhibition Therapy

Clinical Cancer Research Online First Ar.. by Nie, Y., Huang, H., Guo, M., Chen, .. - 1h ago Preview

 
 
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Purpose: Malignant phyllodes tumor (PT) is a fast-progression neoplasm derived from periductal stromal cells of the breast, which currently still lack effective treatment strategies. Our previous studies showed that the high density of tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) plays an important role in the malignant progression of PTs. TAMs secreted large amount of CCL18 to promote myofibroblast differentiation and invasion via binding to its receptor PIPTNM3 on myofibroblasts. Herein, we investigate the mechanism of how TAMs are recruited and repolarized by PTs to drive the malignant progression.

Experimental Design: The cytokines secreted by PTs were identified by the cytokine array. The clinical and pathologic correlations of the cytokine with PTs were estimated with IHC. The mechanisms of the cytokine that recruited and polarized the macrophage were explored with a coculture model of primary PT cells and macrophages in vitro and in vivo. The patient-derived xenografts (PDX) of malignant PTs were used to evaluate the therapeutic effect of CCR5 inhibitor.

Results: A high level of malignant PT-secreted CCL5 correlated with poor outcome of PTs and could be an independent prognostic factor of PTs. CCL5 bound to its receptor, CCR5, on macrophages thus activated AKT signaling to recruit and repolarize TAMs. Subsequently, the TAMs released CCL18 to further promote the aggressive phenotype of malignant PTs by enhancing and maintaining the myofibroblast differentiation and invasion in vitro and in vivo. In a murine PDX model of human malignant PTs, the CCL5–CCR5 axis blocked by maraviroc, an FDA-proved CCR5 inhibitor, prevented recruitment of monocytes to the tumor and dramatically suppressed tumor growth.

Conclusions: Our findings indicate that malignant PTs recruit and repolarize TAMs through a CCL5-CCR5–driven signaling cascade. Thus, a positive feedback loop of CCL5-CCR5 and CCL18-PIPTNM3 between myofibroblast and TAMs is constituted to drive the malignant progression of PTs. Furthermore, targeting CCR5 with maraviroc represents a potential clinically available strategy to treat malignant PTs.