Tumor-associated macrophages restrict CD8+ T cell function through collagen deposition and metabolic reprogramming of the breast cancer microenvironment

Tumor progression is accompanied by fibrosis, a condition of excessive extracellular matrix accumulation, which is associated with diminished antitumor immune infiltration. Here we demonstrate that tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) respond to the stiffened fibrotic tumor microenvironment (TME) by initiating a collagen biosynthesis program directed by transforming growth factor-β. A collateral effect of this programming is an untenable metabolic milieu for productive CD8+ T cell antitumor responses, as collagen-synthesizing macrophages consume environmental arginine, synthesize proline and secrete ornithine that compromises CD8+ T cell function in female breast cancer. Thus, a stiff and fibrotic TME may impede antitumor immunity not only by direct physical exclusion of CD8+ T cells but also through secondary effects of a mechano-metabolic programming of TAMs, which creates an inhospitable metabolic milieu for CD8+ T cells to respond to anticancer immunotherapies. Weaver and colleagues show that TGFβ-induced collagen deposition and metabolic reprogramming of the breast cancer microenvironment by tumor-associated macrophages restrict the antitumor activity of CD8+ T cells in female breast cancer.