Frontiers in Oncology (Jun 2021)

Spi-B Promotes the Recruitment of Tumor-Associated Macrophages via Enhancing CCL4 Expression in Lung Cancer

  • Qiumin Huang,
  • Junrong Liu,
  • Shuainan Wu,
  • Xuexi Zhang,
  • Zengtuan Xiao,
  • Zhe Liu,
  • Zhe Liu,
  • Zhe Liu,
  • Wei Du,
  • Wei Du

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2021.659131
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11

Abstract

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Tumor immune escape plays a critical role in malignant tumor progression and leads to the failure of anticancer immunotherapy. Spi-B, a lymphocyte lineage-specific Ets transcription factor, participates in mesenchymal invasion and favors metastasis in human lung cancer. However, the mechanism through which Spi-B regulates the tumor immune environment has not been elucidated. In this study, we demonstrated that Spi-B enhanced the infiltration of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in the tumor microenvironment using subcutaneous mouse models and clinical samples of human lung cancer. Spi-B overexpression increased the expression of TAM polarization- and recruitment-related genes, including CCL4. Moreover, deleting CCL4 inhibited the ability of Spi-B promoting macrophage infiltration. These data suggest that Spi-B promotes the recruitment of TAMs to the tumor microenvironment via upregulating CCL4 expression, which contributes to the progression of lung cancer.

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