G-CSF/NAMPT signaling drives neutrophil dysfunction and enhances bacterial infection susceptibility in cancer patients.

ABSTRACT: Despite advancements in cancer therapies, bacterial complications remain a major challenge, delaying treatment and worsening outcomes. While immunosuppressive therapies and prolonged hospitalizations contribute, they do not fully explain the elevated infection risk in cancer patients. Here we show that tumors producing high levels of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) promote the persistence of Gram-negative pathogens in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma due to neutrophil reprogramming. Mechanistically, we identify tumor-driven activation of the G-CSF / nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) signaling axis in neutrophil progenitors, resulting in impaired antibacterial functions, such as phagocytosis and neutrophil extracellular traps formation, and development of tis

SUBMITTER: Pylaeva E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12705696 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature