IL-1β + macrophages fuel pathogenic inflammation in pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal disease with high resistance to therapies 1 . Inflammatory and immunomodulatory signals co-exist in the pancreatic tumour microenvironment, leading to dysregulated repair and cytotoxic responses. Tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs) have key roles in PDAC 2 , but their diversity has prevented therapeutic exploitation. Here we combined single-cell and spatial genomics with functional experiments to unravel macrophage functions in pancreatic cancer. We uncovered an inflammatory loop between tumour cells and interleukin-1β (IL-1β)-expressing TAMs, a subset of macrophages elicited by a local synergy between prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ) and tumour necrosis factor (TNF). Physical proximity with IL-1β + TAMs was associated with inflammatory reprogramming and acquisition of pathogenic properties by a subset of PDAC cells. This occurrence was an early event in pancreatic tumorigenesis and led to persistent transcriptional changes associated with disease progression and poor outcomes for patients. Blocking PGE 2 or IL-1β activity elicited TAM reprogramming and antagonized tumour cell-intrinsic and -extrinsic inflammation, leading to PDAC control in vivo. Targeting the PGE 2 –IL-1β axis may enable preventive or therapeutic strategies for reprogramming of immune dynamics in pancreatic cancer.