Apoptotic cell death is a critical step in organism development and tissue homeostasis. Apoptotic cells affect immune cell activities in normal tissues. It is not clear whether similar cell death machinery causes tumor environments to evade anti-tumor immune responses. Here, using a mouse transplant model, we found a large number of tumor cells undergoing intrinsic apoptosis in tumors derived from the 4T1 breast cancer cell line, where neutrophils significantly accumulated. Interestingly, these apoptotic 4T1 tumor cells directly induced neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in a pannexin 1 (Panx1) channel-dependent manner, and knockdown of Panx1 in 4T1 cells led to a reduction in tumor size. Spermidine released through Panx1 from apoptotic 4T1 cells induced NETs in bone marrow-derived neutrophils in vitro. In addition, inhibition of spermidine synthesis suppressed tumor growth in the mouse transplant model. Collectively, our data suggested a new immune-escape mechanism for tumors by Panx1-mediated secretome from intrinsic apoptotic cells, which may provide a new therapeutic target for cancer.
Keywords: Apoptosis; Neutrophils extracellular traps; Pannexin1; Spermidine; Tumor immune microenvironment.
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