Cell Reports (Sep 2020)

Tumor-Promoting Ly-6G+ SiglecFhigh Cells Are Mature and Long-Lived Neutrophils

  • Christina Pfirschke,
  • Camilla Engblom,
  • Jeremy Gungabeesoon,
  • Yunkang Lin,
  • Steffen Rickelt,
  • Rapolas Zilionis,
  • Marius Messemaker,
  • Marie Siwicki,
  • Genevieve M. Gerhard,
  • Anna Kohl,
  • Etienne Meylan,
  • Ralph Weissleder,
  • Allon M. Klein,
  • Mikael J. Pittet

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 32, no. 12
p. 108164

Abstract

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Summary: Myeloid cells co-expressing the markers CD11b, Ly-6G, and SiglecF can be found in large numbers in murine lung adenocarcinomas and accelerate cancer growth by fostering tumor cell invasion, angiogenesis, and immunosuppression; however, some of these cells’ fundamental features remain unexplored. Here, we show that tumor-infiltrating CD11b+ Ly-6G+ SiglecFhigh cells are bona fide mature neutrophils and therefore differ from other myeloid cells, including SiglecFhigh eosinophils, SiglecFhigh macrophages, and CD11b+ Ly-6G+ myeloid-derived suppressor cells. We further show that SiglecFhigh neutrophils gradually accumulate in growing tumors, where they can live for several days; this lifespan is in marked contrast to that of their SiglecFlow counterparts and neutrophils in general, which live for several hours only. Together, these findings reveal distinct attributes for tumor-promoting SiglecFhigh neutrophils and help explain their deleterious accumulation in the tumor bed.

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