Tumor-educated Tregs drive organ-specific metastasis in breast cancer by impairing NK cells in the lymph node niche

Breast cancer is accompanied by systemic immunosuppression, which facilitates metastasis formation, but how this shapes organotropism of metastasis is poorly understood. Here, we investigate the impact of mammary tumorigenesis on regulatory T cells (T-regs) in distant organs and how this affects multi-organ metastatic disease. Using a preclinical mouse mammary tumor model that recapitulates human metastatic breast cancer, we observe systemic accumulation of activated, highly immunosuppressive T-regs during primary tumor growth. Tumor-educated T-regs show tissue-specific transcriptional rewiring in response to mammary tumorigenesis. This has functional consequences for organotropism of metastasis, as T-reg depletion reduces metastasis to tumor-draining lymph nodes, but not to lungs. Mechanistically, we find that T-regs control natural killer (NK) cell activation in lymph nodes, thereby facilitating lymph node metastasis, In line, an increased T-reg/NK cell ratio is observed in sentinel lymph nodes of breast cancer patients compared with healthy controls. This study highlights that immune regulation of metastatic disease is highly organ dependent.

Automated summary

Breast cancer causes systemic immunosuppression, which affects the organotropism of metastasis. Tumor-educated regulatory T cells (T-regs) accumulate in distant organs and undergo transcriptional rewiring in response to mammary tumorigenesis. T-regs control natural killer (NK) cell activation in lymph nodes, thereby promoting lymph node metastasis. The ratio of T-regs to NK cells is increased in sentinel lymph nodes of breast cancer patients compared to healthy controls.