Abstract 1350: Kupffer cells secrete CXCL5 to promote liver cancer
Authors: Tu Taojian , Hong Handan , He Lina , Alba Mario , Okamoto Curtis T. , Stiles Bangyan L. 
Published: April 2023

Liver carcinoma is the 6th most prevalent cancer worldwide in 2020. Moreover, it is the 3rd leading cause of cancer related deaths. In addition to the genomic and transcriptomic heterogeneity of liver tumor cells which is recognized as a major driver in liver cancer progression, the liver immune system is also fundamental to liver carcinogenesis and presents a promising target for therapy. The liver immune response is orchestrated by cytokines and chemokines. Recent studies suggest that chemokines not only recruit immune cells but also regulate various liver functions. In partial hepatectomy, CXCL2 has been shown to promote hepatocyte proliferation. CXCL1, 2, 5 and 8 can induce endothelial cells chemotaxis to promote angiogenesis through binding to CXCR2. These diverse functions suggest that chemokines could play multifaceted roles in liver cancer development. However, chemokines that are commonly associated with liver cancer is still unknown.We analyzed HCC patient data from the GEO database, and we categorized the datasets based on HCC etiologies including HBV, HCV, alcoholic and NASH. We identified CXCL5 as the only chemokine consistently upregulated in HCC with different etiologies compared to healthy or cirrhotic livers. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis reveals that CXCL5 was produced by immune cells but not tumor cells in human HCC tissues. To further study HCC associated CXCL5 expression, the liver-specific Pten deletion mouse model (PM mice) that recapitulates NAFLD-NASH-HCC progression was used. A gradual increase of hepatic CXCL5 expression is observed during HCC development, reaching nearly 100-fold upregulation of CXCL5 mRNA expression in 12-month-old PM mice livers carrying tumors. Examination of liver immune cell populations showed that macrophages were significantly enriched in Pten deleted livers bearing tumors than wild type livers without tumors. Flow cytometry and IHC analysis further identified Kupffer cells (KCs), the liver resident macrophages as the source of CXCL5 in tumor bearing livers using these mice. Since increased LPS is a prominent feature in most chronic liver diseases, we isolated and treated mouse KCs with LPS and found that LPS treatment robustly increased CXCL5 expression by nearly 20-fold. Interestingly, neither murine macrophage cell lines nor primary peritoneal macrophages displayed induced CXCL5 expression in response to LPS. These data suggest that induction of CXCL5 in KCs is likely a unique function of the KCs but not of other macrophages. To explore the function of CXCL5 in HCC development, we treated mouse hepatocytes and HCC cells with CXCL5 and showed that CXCL5 induces the proliferation of these cells. This effect is further blocked by the inhibition of CXCR2, the receptor of CXCL5, demonstrating the specificity for CXCL5 mediated effects. Together we show here for the first time that CXCL5 expression is a unique property of Kupffer cells and the induction of CXCL5 promotes HCC progression.

Citation Format: Taojian Tu, Handan Hong, Lina He, Mario Alba, Curtis T. Okamoto, Bangyan L. Stiles. Kupffer cells secrete CXCL5 to promote liver cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 1350.