A tumor-associated macrophage-targeted immunocytokine leveraging T and NK cell synergy for potent cancer immunotherapy [scRNA-seq]
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE302715 | GEO | 2025/11/19
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) expressing the myeloid checkpoint TREM2 are key immunosuppressive cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME), driving tumor progression and contributing to poor prognosis in cancer patients. Due to their pivotal role, TAMs have emerged as a promising target for immunotherapies. However, current TAM-targeting monotherapies show limited efficacy, highlighting the need for strategies engaging multiple immune modalities. Here, we developed a new class of cancer immunotherapies: myeloid-targeted immunocytokines and NK-T cell enhancers (MiTEs). MiTEs are trans-acting immunocytokines with tumor-specific activation, allowing dual targeting of TAMs and lymphocytes by TREM2 antagonism and cytotoxic effector cell activation through IL-2. To avoid off-target toxicities, MiTEs contain an IL-2 masking moiety, which is cleaved by a TAM-specific protease. MiTEs demonstrate high efficacy in preclinical tumor models through extensive immune reprogramming spanning TAM, T and NK cell compartments. MiTEs show transformative potential for treating solid-cancers by inducing potent multi-arm anti-tumor immunity and minimizing toxicities.
2025-11-19 | GSE303868 | GEO
Project description:Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are major players in regulating the immunosuppressive tumor environment, and their abundance is highly correlated with poor clinical outcomes. Here, we constructed a TAM regulatory network by integrating scRNA-seq data across human solid tumors with a dedicated CRISPR knockout screen. Using a deep generative model capable of learning a local representation for each candidate regulator, we constructed a gene perturbation network that linked individual target genes with prototypical functional modules in TAMs. We identified non-redundant pathways regulating distinct TAM functions, showing modular circuitry. For instance, the complement module is repressed by Stat6, Zeb2, Gpnmb, and Spp1, while the Tgfbr1-Smad2/4 pathway induces this program in TAMs. Importantly, we identified Zeb2 as the master regulator of pro-tumor functions in TAMs, orchestrating the suppression of type I interferon response and antigen presentation alongside the activation of immune suppression programs. Genetic ablation of Zeb2 reprogrammed TAMs identity on chromatin, RNA, and protein levels. In human tumors with high macrophage content, ZEB2 expression was associated with poor prognosis in solid cancers, including lung and bladder. Functional macrophage coculturing assays defined Zeb2 as a critical regulator of TAM immunosuppression activity by inhibiting T cell proliferation and activation. Selective in vivo targeting of Zeb2 in macrophages using a CpGsiRNAZeb2 DNA hybrid reprogrammed TAMs and mobilized systematic anti-tumoral T cell responses, achieving complete tumor clearance as a monotherapy. Overall, our study generated a detailed genetic roadmap of TAM gene circuits and identified ZEB2 as a master switch of TAMs with potential therapeutic implications for macrophage-based immunotherapies.
2025-03-10 | GSE269191 | GEO
Project description:Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are major players in regulating the immunosuppressive tumor environment, and their abundance is highly correlated with poor clinical outcomes. Here, we constructed a TAM regulatory network by integrating scRNA-seq data across human solid tumors with a dedicated CRISPR knockout screen. Using a deep generative model capable of learning a local representation for each candidate regulator, we constructed a gene perturbation network that linked individual target genes with prototypical functional modules in TAMs. We identified non-redundant pathways regulating distinct TAM functions, showing modular circuitry. For instance, the complement module is repressed by Stat6, Zeb2, Gpnmb, and Spp1, while the Tgfbr1-Smad2/4 pathway induces this program in TAMs. Importantly, we identified Zeb2 as the master regulator of pro-tumor functions in TAMs, orchestrating the suppression of type I interferon response and antigen presentation alongside the activation of immune suppression programs. Genetic ablation of Zeb2 reprogrammed TAMs identity on chromatin, RNA, and protein levels. In human tumors with high macrophage content, ZEB2 expression was associated with poor prognosis in solid cancers, including lung and bladder. Functional macrophage coculturing assays defined Zeb2 as a critical regulator of TAM immunosuppression activity by inhibiting T cell proliferation and activation. Selective in vivo targeting of Zeb2 in macrophages using a CpGsiRNAZeb2 DNA hybrid reprogrammed TAMs and mobilized systematic anti-tumoral T cell responses, achieving complete tumor clearance as a monotherapy. Overall, our study generated a detailed genetic roadmap of TAM gene circuits and identified ZEB2 as a master switch of TAMs with potential therapeutic implications for macrophage-based immunotherapies.
2025-03-10 | GSE269188 | GEO
Project description:Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are major players in regulating the immunosuppressive tumor environment, and their abundance is highly correlated with poor clinical outcomes. Here, we constructed a TAM regulatory network by integrating scRNA-seq data across human solid tumors with a dedicated CRISPR knockout screen. Using a deep generative model capable of learning a local representation for each candidate regulator, we constructed a gene perturbation network that linked individual target genes with prototypical functional modules in TAMs. We identified non-redundant pathways regulating distinct TAM functions, showing modular circuitry. For instance, the complement module is repressed by Stat6, Zeb2, Gpnmb, and Spp1, while the Tgfbr1-Smad2/4 pathway induces this program in TAMs. Importantly, we identified Zeb2 as the master regulator of pro-tumor functions in TAMs, orchestrating the suppression of type I interferon response and antigen presentation alongside the activation of immune suppression programs. Genetic ablation of Zeb2 reprogrammed TAMs identity on chromatin, RNA, and protein levels. In human tumors with high macrophage content, ZEB2 expression was associated with poor prognosis in solid cancers, including lung and bladder. Functional macrophage coculturing assays defined Zeb2 as a critical regulator of TAM immunosuppression activity by inhibiting T cell proliferation and activation. Selective in vivo targeting of Zeb2 in macrophages using a CpGsiRNAZeb2 DNA hybrid reprogrammed TAMs and mobilized systematic anti-tumoral T cell responses, achieving complete tumor clearance as a monotherapy. Overall, our study generated a detailed genetic roadmap of TAM gene circuits and identified ZEB2 as a master switch of TAMs with potential therapeutic implications for macrophage-based immunotherapies.
2025-03-10 | GSE269187 | GEO
Project description:Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) play a critical role in the clinical outcome of solid tumors and the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapies. Interferon (IFN)-TAMs are a potent anti-tumor TAM subset recently identified in several human cancers, with higher frequencies strongly predicting improved overall survival and ICB responses. Yet the molecular mechanisms governing IFN-TAM gene expression programs and population dynamics remain largely unknown. Herein, we uncover a mitochondrial process where NDUFA4, a subunit of Complex IV of the electron transport chain, serves as a switch that controls TAM functions and tumor immunity. We demonstrate that in response to interferons (IFNs) within the tumor microenvironment, NDUFA4 is dramatically downregulated in TAMs by the cooperative activity of the NDUFA4 homolog NDUFA4L3 and the microRNA miR-147, both encoded by a single highly conserved bifunctional transcript. Notably, repression of NDUFA4 is necessary for the expansion of IFN-TAMs and subsequent anti-tumor immunity via NK and CD8+ T cell recruitment, whereas constitutive NDUFA4 expression supports pro-tumoral TAMs. Unexpectedly, we find that NDUFA4 minimally contributes to mitochondrial respiration but instead primarily functions as a gatekeeper of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) release into the cytoplasm. Consequently, NDUFA4 repression enhances mtDNA-induced stimulator of interferon genes (STING) activation, thereby amplifying anti-tumor IFN-induced transcriptional programs in TAMs. Finally, leveraging the exceptional specificity of miR-147 for Ndufa4 mRNA, we demonstrate that RNA-based therapeutics targeting this functional switch enhance ICB efficacy and inhibit tumor growth. In summary, we uncover that tumor microenvironmental cues control the abundance of IFN-TAMs and subsequent anti-tumor immunity through the regulation of NDUFA4 and that this novel functional switch can be exploited for cancer immunotherapies.
2025-06-30 | GSE269804 | GEO
Project description:Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) play a critical role in the clinical outcome of solid tumors and the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapies. Interferon (IFN)-TAMs are a potent anti-tumor TAM subset recently identified in several human cancers, with higher frequencies strongly predicting improved overall survival and ICB responses. Yet the molecular mechanisms governing IFN-TAM gene expression programs and population dynamics remain largely unknown. Herein, we uncover a mitochondrial process where NDUFA4, a subunit of Complex IV of the electron transport chain, serves as a switch that controls TAM functions and tumor immunity. We demonstrate that in response to interferons (IFNs) within the tumor microenvironment, NDUFA4 is dramatically downregulated in TAMs by the cooperative activity of the NDUFA4 homolog NDUFA4L3 and the microRNA miR-147, both encoded by a single highly conserved bifunctional transcript. Notably, repression of NDUFA4 is necessary for the expansion of IFN-TAMs and subsequent anti-tumor immunity via NK and CD8+ T cell recruitment, whereas constitutive NDUFA4 expression supports pro-tumoral TAMs. Unexpectedly, we find that NDUFA4 minimally contributes to mitochondrial respiration but instead primarily functions as a gatekeeper of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) release into the cytoplasm. Consequently, NDUFA4 repression enhances mtDNA-induced stimulator of interferon genes (STING) activation, thereby amplifying anti-tumor IFN-induced transcriptional programs in TAMs. Finally, leveraging the exceptional specificity of miR-147 for Ndufa4 mRNA, we demonstrate that RNA-based therapeutics targeting this functional switch enhance ICB efficacy and inhibit tumor growth. In summary, we uncover that tumor microenvironmental cues control the abundance of IFN-TAMs and subsequent anti-tumor immunity through the regulation of NDUFA4 and that this novel functional switch can be exploited for cancer immunotherapies.
2025-06-30 | GSE269803 | GEO
Project description:CD47 is a “don’t eat me” signal that is frequently overexpressed in tumors to evade phagocytosis by tumor associated macrophages (TAM). Investigational agents targeting CD47, such as magrolimab, aim to induce phagocytosis of tumor cells by TAMs. Previously, two functionally defined key TAM subsets have been identified: complement C1q C chain positive (C1QC) TAMs, which display pro-phagocytic activity, and secreted phosphoprotein 1 positive (SPP1) TAMs that express pro-angiogenic markers. Here we characterize CD47 expression and its relationship with tumor macrophages in solid tumor samples.
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Project description:The tumor microenvironment modifies the malignancy of tumors. In solid tumors this environment is populated by many macrophages (tumor-associated macrophages; TAMs) that in genetic studies that depleted these cells from mouse models of breast cancer were shown to promote tumor progression to malignancy and increase metastatic potential. Mechanistic studies showed that these effects are through the stimulation of tumor cell migration, invasion, intravasation as well as an enhancement of angiogenesis. Using an in vivo invasion assay it was demonstrated that invasive carcinoma cells are a unique sub-population of tumor cells whose invasion and chemotaxis is dependent upon the co-migration of TAMs with obligate reciprocal signaling through an EGF/CSF-1 paracrine loop. In this study these invasion-promoting macrophages were isolated and subjected to analysis of their transcriptome in comparison to TAMs isolated indiscriminately to function using established macrophage markers by flow cytometry. Five biological replicates for each population (Invasive and General TAM) were used.
2010-05-16 | E-GEOD-18295 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Clinical and experimental evidence indicates that tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) promote malignant progression. In breast cancer, TAMs enhance tumor angiogenesis, tumor cell invasion, matrix remodeling, and immune suppression against the tumor. In this study, we examined late-stage mammary tumors from a transgenic mouse model of breast cancer. We used flow cytometry under conditions that minimized gene expression changes to isolate a rigorously defined TAM population previously shown to be associated with invasive carcinoma cells. The gene expression signature of this population was compared with a similar population derived from spleens of non-tumor-bearing mice using high-density oligonucleotide arrays. Using stringent selection criteria, transcript abundance of 460 genes was shown to be differentially regulated between the two populations. Bioinformatic analyses of known functions of these genes indicated that formerly ascribed TAM functions, including suppression of immune activation and matrix remodeling, as well as multiple mediators of tumor angiogenesis, were elevated in TAMs. Further bioinformatic analyses confirmed that a pure and valid TAM gene expression signature in mouse tumors could be used to assess expression of TAMs in human breast cancer. The data derived from these more physiologically relevant autochthonous tumors compared with previous studies in tumor xenografts suggest tactics by which TAMs may regulate tumor angiogenesis and thus provide a basis for exploring other transcriptional mediators of TAM trophic functions within the tumor microenvironment. Tumor-associated macrophages from late-stage mouse mammary tumors compared to splenic macrophages from non-tumor-bearing littermate controls. 4 biological replicates of each population were compared via gene expression arrays.
2010-06-21 | E-GEOD-18404 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) have immunosuppressive capacity in mouse models of cancer. Here we show that the genetic deletion of the microRNA (miRNA)-processing enzyme DICER in TAMs broadly programs them to a CD11c+MRC1â/low M1-like immunostimulatory phenotype characterized by activated interferon-γ (IFN-γ)/STAT1/IRF signaling. M1-like TAM programming fostered the recruitment of cytotoxic T-cells (CTLs), including tumor-antigen-specific CTLs, inhibited tumor growth, and enhanced the efficacy of PD1 checkpoint blockade. Bioinformatics analysis of TAM transcriptomes identified a limited set of miRNAs putatively involved in TAM programming. Re-expression of Let-7 in Dicer-deficient TAMs was sufficient to partly rescue the M2-like (protumoral) TAM phenotype and abate tumor CTL infiltration. Targeted suppression of DICER activity in TAMs may, therefore, stimulate antitumor immunity and enhance the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy. To explore the role of DICER in the development, activation and immunological functions of TAMs, we crossed homozygous LysM-Cre (Clausen et al., 1999) with Dicerlox/lox (Harfe et al., 2005) mice to obtain mice with myeloid-cell-specific Dicer1 gene deletion (LysM-Cre;Dicerâ/â, referred to as Dâ/â). These mice were then backcrossed to LysM-Cre to obtain the control LysM-Cre; Dicer+/+ mice (referred to as D+/+). Both LysM-Cre and Dicerlox/lox mutations were always homozygous in our experiment. We then inoculated Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells subcutaneously (s.c.) in Dâ/â and control D+/+ mice. Once the tumors were established, we isolated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) tumor-associated macrophages (F4/80+ cells).
2016-06-13 | E-GEOD-76356 | biostudies-arrayexpress