Yagnik G, Rutowski MJ, Shah SS, Aghi MK. Stratifying nonfunctional pituitary adenomas into two groups distinguished by macrophage subtypes.
Oncotarget 2019;
10:2212-2223. [PMID:
31040912 PMCID:
PMC6481336 DOI:
10.18632/oncotarget.26775]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2018] [Accepted: 02/21/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) polarize to M1 and M2 subtypes exerting anti-tumoral and pro-tumoral effects, respectively. To date, little is known about TAMs, their subtypes, and their roles in non-functional pituitary adenomas (NFPAs). We performed flow cytometry on single cell suspensions from 16 NFPAs, revealing that CD11b+ myeloid cells comprise an average of 7.3% of cells in NFPAs (range = 0.5%–27.1%), with qPCR revealing most CD11b+ cells to be monocyte-derived TAMs rather than native microglia. The most CD11b-enriched NFPAs (10–27% CD11b+) were the most expansile (size>3.5 cm or MIB1>3%). Increasing CD11b+ fraction was associated with decreased M2 TAMs and increased M1 TAMs. All NFPAs with cavernous sinus invasion had M2/M1 gene expression ratios above one, while 80% of NFPAs without cavernous sinus invasion had M2/M1<1 (P = 0.02). Cultured M2 macrophages promoted greater invasion (P < 10-5) and proliferation (P = 0.03) of primary NFPA cultures than M1 macrophages in a manner inhibited by siRNA targeting S100A9 and EZH2, respectively. Primary NFPA cultures were of two types: some recruited more monocytes in an MCP-1-dependent manner and polarized these to M2 TAMs, while others recruited fewer monocytes and polarized them to M1 TAMS in a GM-CSF-dependent manner. These findings suggest that TAM recruitment and polarization into the pro-tumoral M2 subtype drives NFPA proliferation and invasion. Robust M2 TAM infiltrate may occur during an NFPA growth phase before self-regulating into a slower growth phase with fewer overall TAMs and M1 polarization. Analyses like these could generate immunomodulatory therapies for NFPAs.
Collapse