Sustained macrophage reprogramming is required for CD8+ T cell-dependent long-term tumor eradication.

Abstract

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) exhibit a dual role in tumor progression and antitumor immunity. However, understanding the functional states and molecular mechanisms of antitumor TAMs remains a challenge. Herein, we show that intratumoral administration of a combination of agonists against TLR3 and CD40 (hereafter termed myeloid cell treatment, MCT) reprogrammed TAMs in situ to adopt a protective antitumor phenotype in an orthotopic mouse breast cancer model, and that this led to tumor regression. Single-cell RNA sequencing of TAMs from different tumor stages and post-MCT revealed a transient antitumor TAM phenotype, present at 12h post-MCT, characterized by markers such as iNOS and CD38, which was replaced by TAMs co-expressing tumor-limiting and promoting features by 72h post-MCT. Maintenance of antitumor TAMs required repeated MCT administration, and this promoted the activation of CD8+ T cells and long-term tumor eradication. Mechanistically, ROS and TNF-α were pivotal in TAM-mediated tumor control. Our findings uncover the vulnerability of transient TAM reprogramming and show that it can be overcome by repeated MCT administrations to sustain efficient antitumor immune responses.