Abstract
Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are the most abundant cancer stromal cells and play an essential role in tumor immunosuppression, providing a suitable microenvironment for cancer development and progression. However, mechanisms of regulating TAMs infiltration in tumor sites are not fully understood. Here, we show that inactivation of neddylation pathway significantly inhibits infiltration of TAMs, leading to the suppression of lung cancer metastasis. RNA-sequencing analysis revealed that neddylation inactivation suppresses the transactivation of chemotactic cytokine ligand 2 (CCL2). Mechanistically, neddylation inactivation inhibits the activity of Cullin-RING ligases (CRLs) and induces the accumulation of its substrate IκBα to block NF-κB transcriptional activity and CCL2 transactivation. As a result, neddylation inactivation exhibits lower chemotaxis of monocytes, thereby decreasing TAMs infiltration, which can be alleviated by CCL2 addition. Moreover, the expression level of NEDD8 is positively correlated with high CCL2 expression in lung adenocarcinoma, conferring a worse overall patient survival. Together, neddylation pathway promotes CCL2 transactivation and TAMs infiltration in lung cancer to provide a tumor-promoting microenvironment, which validates neddylation pathway as a promising target for anti-TAMs therapeutic strategies.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 50 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $5.18 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Noy R, Pollard JW. Tumor-associated macrophages: from mechanisms to therapy. Immunity. 2014;41:49–61.
Chanmee T, Ontong P, Konno K, Itano N. Tumor-associated macrophages as major players in the tumor microenvironment. Cancers (Basel). 2014;6:1670–90.
Bingle L, Brown NJ, Lewis CE. The role of tumour-associated macrophages in tumour progression: implications for new anticancer therapies. J Pathol. 2002;196:254–65.
De Palma M, Lewis CE. Macrophage regulation of tumor responses to anticancer therapies. Cancer Cell. 2013;23:277–86.
Heusinkveld M, van der Burg SH. Identification and manipulation of tumor associated macrophages in human cancers. J Transl Med. 2011;9:216.
Condeelis J, Pollard JW. Macrophages: obligate partners for tumor cell migration, invasion, and metastasis. Cell. 2006;124:263–6.
Hao J, Yan F, Zhang Y, Triplett A, Zhang Y, Schultz DA, et al. Expression of adipocyte/macrophage fatty acid-binding protein in tumor-associated macrophages promotes breast cancer progression. Cancer Res. 2018;78:2343–55.
Li X, Yao W, Yuan Y, Chen P, Li B, Li J, et al. Targeting of tumour-infiltrating macrophages via CCL2/CCR2 signalling as a therapeutic strategy against hepatocellular carcinoma. Gut. 2017;66:157–67.
Qian BZ, Li J, Zhang H, Kitamura T, Zhang J, Campion LR, et al. CCL2 recruits inflammatory monocytes to facilitate breast-tumour metastasis. Nature. 2011;475:222–5.
Fridlender ZG, Kapoor V, Buchlis G, Cheng G, Sun J, Wang LC, et al. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 blockade inhibits lung cancer tumor growth by altering macrophage phenotype and activating CD8+cells. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2011;44:230–7.
Lu Y, Cai Z, Galson DL, Xiao G, Liu Y, George DE, et al. Monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) acts as a paracrine and autocrine factor for prostate cancer growth and invasion. Prostate. 2006;66:1311–8.
Soria G, Yaal-Hahoshen N, Azenshtein E, Shina S, Leider-Trejo L, Ryvo L, et al. Concomitant expression of the chemokines RANTES and MCP-1 in human breast cancer: a basis for tumor-promoting interactions. Cytokine. 2008;44:191–200.
Yoshidome H, Kohno H, Shida T, Kimura F, Shimizu H, Ohtsuka M, et al. Significance of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in angiogenesis and survival in colorectal liver metastases. Int J Oncol. 2009;34:923–30.
Enchev RI, Schulman BA, Peter M. Protein neddylation: beyond cullin-RING ligases. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2015;16:30–44.
Kamitani T, Kito K, Nguyen HP, Yeh ET. Characterization of NEDD8, a developmentally down-regulated ubiquitin-like protein. J Biol Chem. 1997;272:28557–62.
Xirodimas DP. Novel substrates and functions for the ubiquitin-like molecule NEDD8. Biochem Soc Trans. 2008;36:802–6.
Zhou L, Zhang W, Sun Y, Jia L. Protein neddylation and its alterations in human cancers for targeted therapy. Cell Signal. 2018;44:92–102.
Nakayama KI, Nakayama K. Ubiquitin ligases: cell-cycle control and cancer. Nat Rev Cancer. 2006;6:369–81.
Petroski MD, Deshaies RJ. Function and regulation of cullin-RING ubiquitin ligases. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2005;6:9–20.
Soucy TA, Smith PG, Milhollen MA, Berger AJ, Gavin JM, Adhikari S, et al. An inhibitor of NEDD8-activating enzyme as a new approach to treat cancer. Nature. 2009;458:732–6.
Gao Q, Yu GY, Shi JY, Li LH, Zhang WJ, Wang ZC, et al. Neddylation pathway is up-regulated in human intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and serves as a potential therapeutic target. Oncotarget. 2014;5:7820–32.
Hua W, Li C, Yang Z, Li L, Jiang Y, Yu G, et al. Suppression of glioblastoma by targeting the overactivated protein neddylation pathway. Neuro Oncol. 2015;17:1333–43.
Li L, Wang M, Yu G, Chen P, Li H, Wei D, et al. Overactivated neddylation pathway as a therapeutic target in lung cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2014;106:dju083.
Xie P, Yang JP, Cao Y, Peng LX, Zheng LS, Sun R, et al. Promoting tumorigenesis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma, NEDD8 serves as a potential theranostic target. Cell Death Dis. 2017;8:e2834.
Bhatia S, Pavlick AC, Boasberg P, Thompson JA, Mulligan G, Pickard MD, et al. A phase I study of the investigational NEDD8-activating enzyme inhibitor pevonedistat (TAK-924/MLN4924) in patients with metastatic melanoma. Invest New Drugs. 2016;34:439–49.
Sarantopoulos J, Shapiro GI, Cohen RB, Clark JW, Kauh JS, Weiss GJ, et al. Phase I Study of the Investigational NEDD8-Activating Enzyme Inhibitor Pevonedistat (TAK-924/MLN4924) in Patients with Advanced Solid Tumors. Clin Cancer Res. 2016;22:847–57.
Shah JJ, Jakubowiak AJ, O’Connor OA, Orlowski RZ, Harvey RD, Smith MR, et al. Phase I study of the novel investigational NEDD8-activating enzyme inhibitor pevonedistat (MLN4924) in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma or lymphoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2016;22:34–43.
Swords RT, Erba HP, DeAngelo DJ, Bixby DL, Altman JK, Maris M, et al. Pevonedistat (MLN4924), a First-in-Class NEDD8-activating enzyme inhibitor, in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia and myelodysplastic syndromes: a phase 1 study. Br J Haematol. 2015;169:534–43.
Swords RT, Coutre S, Maris MB, Zeidner JF, Foran JM, Cruz J, et al. Pevonedistat, a first-in-class NEDD8-activating enzyme inhibitor, combined with azacitidine in patients with AML. Blood. 2018;131:1415–24.
Pachynski RK, Zabel BA, Kohrt HE, Tejeda NM, Monnier J, Swanson CD, et al. The chemoattractant chemerin suppresses melanoma by recruiting natural killer cell antitumor defenses. J Exp Med. 2012;209:1427–35.
Mosser DM, Edwards JP. Exploring the full spectrum of macrophage activation. Nat Rev Immunol. 2008;8:958–69.
Ezekowitz RA, Gordon S. Alterations of surface properties by macrophage activation: expression of receptors for Fc and mannose-terminal glycoproteins and differentiation antigens. Conte Top Immunobiol. 1984;13:33–56.
Quail DF, Joyce JA. Microenvironmental regulation of tumor progression and metastasis. Nat Med. 2013;19:1423–37.
Brownell JE, Sintchak MD, Gavin JM, Liao H, Bruzzese FJ, Bump NJ, et al. Substrate-assisted inhibition of ubiquitin-like protein-activating enzymes: the NEDD8 E1 inhibitor MLN4924 forms a NEDD8-AMP mimetic in situ. Mol Cell. 2010;37:102–11.
Hildebrand DG, Alexander E, Horber S, Lehle S, Obermayer K, Munck NA, et al. IkappaBzeta is a transcriptional key regulator of CCL2/MCP-1. J Immunol. 2013;190:4812–20.
Tan P, Fuchs SY, Chen A, Wu K, Gomez C, Ronai Z, et al. Recruitment of a ROC1-CUL1 ubiquitin ligase by Skp1 and HOS to catalyze the ubiquitination of I kappa B alpha. Mol Cell. 1999;3:527–33.
Qian BZ, Pollard JW. Macrophage diversity enhances tumor progression and metastasis. Cell. 2010;141:39–51.
Li X, Qian X, Peng LX, Jiang Y, Hawke DH, Zheng Y, et al. A splicing switch from ketohexokinase-C to ketohexokinase-A drives hepatocellular carcinoma formation. Nat Cell Biol. 2016;18:561–71.
Yu G, Yu W, Jin G, Xu D, Chen Y, Xia T, et al. PKM2 regulates neural invasion of and predicts poor prognosis for human hilar cholangiocarcinoma. Mol Cancer. 2015;14:193.
Heagerty PJ, Lumley T, Pepe MS. Time-dependent ROC curves for censored survival data and a diagnostic marker. Biometrics. 2000;56:337–44.
Zhang JX, Song W, Chen ZH, Wei JH, Liao YJ, Lei J, et al. Prognostic and predictive value of a microRNA signature in stage II colon cancer: a microRNA expression analysis. Lancet Oncol. 2013;14:1295–306.
Wang Y, Luo Z, Pan Y, Wang W, Zhou X, Jeong LS, et al. Targeting protein neddylation with an NEDD8-activating enzyme inhibitor MLN4924 induced apoptosis or senescence in human lymphoma cells. Cancer Biol Ther. 2015;16:420–9.
Grivennikov SI, Greten FR, Karin M. Immunity, inflammation, and cancer. Cell. 2010;140:883–99.
Tan M, Li H, Sun Y. Endothelial deletion of Sag/Rbx2/Roc2 E3 ubiquitin ligase causes embryonic lethality and blocks tumor angiogenesis. Oncogene. 2014;33:5211–20.
Yao WT, Wu JF, Yu GY, Wang R, Wang K, Li LH, et al. Suppression of tumor angiogenesis by targeting the protein neddylation pathway. Cell Death Dis. 2014;5:e1059.
Williams CB, Yeh ES, Soloff AC. Tumor-associated macrophages: unwitting accomplices in breast cancer malignancy. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2016;2:15025.
Lee HW, Nam SK, Choi WJ, Kim HO, Jeong LS. Stereoselective synthesis of MLN4924, an inhibitor of NEDD8-activating enzyme. J Org Chem. 2011;76:3557–61.
Acknowledgements
The Chinese Minister of Science and Technology grant (2016YFA0501800), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 81820108022, 81625018, 81572340, 81772470, 81602072, 81401893, 81702244 and 81871870), Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (2019-01-07-00-10-E00056), National Thirteenth Five-Year Science and Technology Major Special Project for New Drug and Development (2017ZX09304001), and Program of Shanghai Academic/Technology Research Leader (18XD1403800), supported this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhou, L., Jiang, Y., Liu, X. et al. Promotion of tumor-associated macrophages infiltration by elevated neddylation pathway via NF-κB-CCL2 signaling in lung cancer. Oncogene 38, 5792–5804 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-019-0840-4
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-019-0840-4
This article is cited by
-
Protein neddylation and its role in health and diseases
Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy (2024)
-
Higher cytotoxic activities of CD8+ T cells and natural killer cells from peripheral blood of early diagnosed lung cancer patients
BMC Immunology (2023)
-
E3 ligase TRIM28 promotes anti-PD-1 resistance in non-small cell lung cancer by enhancing the recruitment of myeloid-derived suppressor cells
Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research (2023)
-
NEDD8-conjugating enzyme E2s: critical targets for cancer therapy
Cell Death Discovery (2023)
-
Pharmacologic targeting of Nedd8-activating enzyme reinvigorates T-cell responses in lymphoid neoplasia
Leukemia (2023)