Abstract 5536: The role of p38 MAPK in the tumor-induced immune suppressive microenvironment in metastatic breast cancer

Abstract The tumor microenvironment (TME) in Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) is a major factor contributing to therapy resistance and suppression of antitumor immune response. Tumors promote expansion and recruitment of immune suppressive cells such as myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) contributing to tumor invasion and suppressing anti-tumor T cells. Our prior work suggested a critical role of p38 MAPK in tumor-induced expansion and mobilization of myeloid cell populations thereby facilitating metastasis. The current study examined the role of p38 MAPK in tumor-induced changes in immune landscape and explored the mechanisms by which p38 mediates tumor-immune interactions. First, the contribution of T cells to anti-metastatic activity of p38 inhibitor (p38i) was addressed by depletion of CD8 T cells. Depletion of CD8+ T cells negated the effects of p38i on tumor growth and metastasis in the syngeneic 4T1 model. Next, we examined whether p38i exhibits a direct effect on T cells in vitro or in vivo. The in vitro assays showed that p38 blockade increased levels of CD44+ CD62L+ CD8+ T cells indicating enhancement of T cell differentiation. To determine the effects of p38 blockade on the immune landscape in vivo, single-cell RNA-seq and flow cytometry studies were performed in the 4T1 model with p38i or p38-deficient cells in which p38α/Mapk14 was inactivated by CRISPR/Cas9 (p38KO). The scRNA-seq data showed that p38 blockade increased the expression of T cell differentiation markers in the TME. Furthermore, p38 blockade significant decreased IL-6 signaling in myeloid cells, an important mediator of MDSC function. Assessment of myeloid cell populations showed a decreased expression of the immune suppressive signature. This observation was further validated in MDSCs isolated from the spleens of 4T1 tumor-bearing mice treated with p38i and in p38KO cohorts. Our prior work showed that p38i does not affect the generation of MDSCs in vitro. Therefore, we examined whether blockade of p38 affects the chemotactic capacity of conditioned media from MBC cells using mouse monocytes. The chemotaxis assays showed that p38i and p38KO largely reduced the ability of conditioned media to stimulate transwell migration of mouse monocytes. Notably, p38i and p38KO largely reduced expression of chemotactic cytokines in MBC cell models. Furthermore, p38i and p38KO reduced production and chemotactic ability of exosomes isolated from tumor cells. Together, these observations suggest that tumor p38 MAPK signaling promotes immune-suppressive TME and metastasis by facilitating expansion and mobilization of myeloid cell populations through the mechanisms involving production of exosomes and pro-myeloid chemokines/cytokines. This work highlights that p38 blockade can be utilized in combination with immune therapy or chemotherapy to enhance clinical benefits of immune therapy and reduce promyeloid effects of chemotherapy. Citation Format: Priyanka Rajan, Robert Zollo, Mackenzie Lieberman, Yanqi Guo, Mohammed Alruwaili, Mohammed Alqarni, Brian Morreale, Scott Olejniczak, Joseph Barbi, Scott Abrams, Andrei Bakin. The role of p38 MAPK in the tumor-induced immune suppressive microenvironment in metastatic breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 5536.