Phosphoglycerate mutase 1 promotes breast cancer progression through inducing immunosuppressive M2 macrophages

Abstract

Immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) contributes to tumor progression and causes major obstacles for cancer therapy. Phosphoglycerate mutase 1 (PGAM1) is a key enzyme involved in cancer metabolism while its role in remodeling TME remains unclear. In this study, we reported that PGAM1 suppression in breast cancer (BC) cells led to a decrease in M2 polarization, migration, and interleukin-10 (IL-10) production of macrophages. PGAM1 regulation on CCL2 expression was essential to macrophage recruitment, which further mediated by activating JAK-STAT pathway. Additionally, the CCL2/CCR2 axis was observed to participate in PGAM1-mediated immunosuppression via regulating PD-1 expression in macrophages. Combined targeting of PGAM1 and the CCL2/CCR2 axis led to a reduction in tumor growth in vivo. Furthermore, clinical validation in BC tissues indicated a positive correlation between PGAM1, CCL2 and macrophage infiltration. Our study provides novel insights into the induction of immunosuppressive TME by PGAM1 and propose a new strategy for combination therapies targeting PGAM1 and macrophages in BC.