Unbiased metastatic niche-labeling identifies estrogen receptor-positive macrophages as a barrier of T cell infiltration during bone colonization

Abstract

Microenvironment niches determine cellular fates of metastatic cancer cells. However, robust and unbiased approaches to identify niche components and their molecular profiles are lacking. We established Sortase A-Based Microenvironment Niche Tagging (SAMENT), which selectively labels cells encountered by cancer cells during metastatic colonization. SAMENT was applied to multiple cancer models colonizing the same organ and the same cancer to different organs. Common metastatic niche features include macrophage enrichment and T cell depletion. Macrophage niches are phenotypically diverse between different organs. In bone, macrophages express the estrogen receptor alpha (ER) and exhibit active ER signaling in male and female hosts. Conditional knockout of Esr1 in macrophages significantly retarded bone colonization by allowing T cell infiltration. ER expression was also discovered in human bone metastases of both genders. Collectively, we identified a unique population of ER+ macrophages in the metastatic niche and functionally tied ER signaling in macrophages to T cell exclusion during metastatic colonization. O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=165 SRC="FIGDIR/small/593016v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (60K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1cd65b6org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1d099e2org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@26cd91org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@181f5f3_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG HIGHLIGHTSO_LISAMENT is a robust metastatic niche-labeling approach amenable to single-cell omics. C_LIO_LIMetastatic niches are typically enriched with macrophages and depleted of T cells. C_LIO_LIDirect interaction with cancer cells induces ER expression in niche macrophages. C_LIO_LIKnockout of Esr1 in macrophages allows T cell infiltration and retards bone colonization. C_LI