iScience (Nov 2021)

Myeloid cell subsets that express latency-associated peptide promote cancer growth by modulating T cells

  • Galina Gabriely,
  • Duanduan Ma,
  • Shafiuddin Siddiqui,
  • Linqing Sun,
  • Nathaniel P. Skillin,
  • Hadi Abou-El-Hassan,
  • Thais G. Moreira,
  • Dustin Donnelly,
  • Andre P. da Cunha,
  • Mai Fujiwara,
  • Lena R. Walton,
  • Amee Patel,
  • Rajesh Krishnan,
  • Stuart S. Levine,
  • Brian C. Healy,
  • Rafael M. Rezende,
  • Gopal Murugaiyan,
  • Howard L. Weiner

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 24, no. 11
p. 103347

Abstract

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Summary: Myeloid suppressor cells promote tumor growth by a variety of mechanisms which are not fully characterized. We identified myeloid cells (MCs) expressing the latency-associated peptide (LAP) of TGF-β on their surface and LAPHi MCs that stimulate Foxp3+ Tregs while inhibiting effector T cell proliferation and function. Blocking TGF-β inhibits the tolerogenic ability of LAPHi MCs. Furthermore, adoptive transfer of LAPHi MCs promotes Treg accumulation and tumor growth in vivo. Conversely, anti-LAP antibody, which reduces LAPHi MCs, slows cancer progression. Single-cell RNA-Seq analysis on tumor-derived immune cells revealed LAPHi dominated cell subsets with distinct immunosuppressive signatures, including those with high levels of MHCII and PD-L1 genes. Analogous to mice, LAP is expressed on myeloid suppressor cells in humans, and these cells are increased in glioma patients. Thus, our results identify a previously unknown function by which LAPHi MCs promote tumor growth and offer therapeutic intervention to target these cells in cancer.

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