Abstract PO4-25-01: Selective elimination of CD169+ macrophages in lymph nodes invaded by breast cancers
Authors: Maeshima Yurina , Kataoka Tatsuki R. , Vandenbon Alexis , Hirata Masahiro , Takeuchi Yasuhide , Suzuki Yutaka , Fukui Yukiko , Ibi Yumiko , Haga Hironori , Morita Satoshi , Toi Masakazu , Kawaoka Shinpei , Kawaguchi Kosuke 
Published: May 2024

Lymph node metastasis is a prognostically significant factor in breast cancer, though the colonization mechanism of cancer cells in this immune cell-rich organ remains elusive. This study aimed to elucidate the impact of breast cancer on the lymph node immune cell landscape. Multiscale transcriptomic analyses were performed on both metastatic and non-metastatic lymph node samples from breast cancer patients with lymph node metastasis. Twenty laser-micro-dissected sections were obtained from 17 lymph nodes across six breast cancer patients at stages II–III, with each patient contributing both types of lymph nodes for direct comparison.

Comparing the transcriptomes of paired lymph nodes with and without metastasis from the same patients revealed selective downregulation of CD169+ macrophage-related genes in metastatic lymph nodes. The spatial transcriptome indicated a potential depletion of CD169+ macrophages, initiators of anticancer immunity, from their residence (sinuses) in metastatic lymph nodes, while other principal immune cell types were unaltered. Mass spectrometry imaging revealed that the numbers of CD169+ macrophages were smaller in the metastatic lymph nodes than in the non-metastatic lymph nodes, suggesting that cancer cells uprooted CD169+ macrophages from the lymph nodes. Conversely, the count of B, T, Treg, and CD11c+ cells remained comparable in both lymph node types, albeit an enrichment of Treg cells around metastasized cancer tissues was observed. Additional immunohistochemistry analysis of 315 non-metastatic lymph nodes and 159 metastatic lymph nodes from 58 patients with breast cancer showed that a reduced CD169+ macrophage population was prevalent in various breast cancer subtypes. A subset of metastatic lymph nodes (37 out of 159) displayed a complete absence of detectable CD169+ macrophages. The data also depicted a gradual decline in CD169+ macrophages correlating with the pN classification, while no correlation was identified with pathological tumor size classification (pT) or metastasized cancer volume. The data suggest precedence of CD169+ macrophage elimination over other reported immune cell abnormalities, such as cell number and metabolic irregularities. CD169+ macrophages are a unique type of resident macrophages in the lymphoid organs that present cancer-derived antigens to CD8+ cells. The antigen-presenting role of CD169+ macrophages to T cells, a pivotal step in adaptive immunity, signifies the catastrophic implications of their suppression. This study underscores CD169+ macrophage suppression as a pronounced pathological phenotype in lymph nodes with breast cancer metastasis, thereby establishing it as a critical future therapeutic target.

Citation Format: Yurina Maeshima, Tatsuki R. Kataoka, Alexis Vandenbon, Masahiro Hirata, Yasuhide Takeuchi, Yutaka Suzuki, Yukiko Fukui, Yumiko Ibi, Hironori Haga, Satoshi Morita, Masakazu Toi, Shinpei Kawaoka, Kosuke Kawaguchi. Selective elimination of CD169+ macrophages in lymph nodes invaded by breast cancers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO4-25-01.