Targeting CSF-1 signaling between tumor cells and macrophages at TMEM doorways inhibits breast cancer dissemination

Tumor cell intravasation is essential for metastatic dissemination, but its exact mechanism is incompletely understood. We have previously shown that in breast cancer, the direct and stable association of a tumor cell expressing Mena, a Tie2^hi/VEGF^hi macrophage, and a vascular endothelial cell, creates an intravasation portal, called a “tumor microenvironment of metastasis” (TMEM) doorway, for tumor cell intravasation, leading to dissemination to distant sites. The density of TMEM doorways, also called TMEM doorway score, is a clinically validated prognostic marker of distant metastasis in breast cancer patients. Although we know that tumor cells utilize TMEM doorway-associated transient vascular openings to intravasate, the precise signaling mechanisms involved in TMEM doorway function are only partially understood. Using two mouse models of breast cancer and an in vitro assay of intravasation, we report that CSF-1 secreted by the TMEM doorway tumor cell stimulates local secretion of VEGF-A from the Tie2^hi TMEM doorway macrophage, leading to the dissociation of endothelial junctions between TMEM doorway-associated endothelial cells, supporting tumor cell intravasation. Acute blockade of CSF-1/CSF-1R signaling decreases macrophage VEGF-A secretion as well as TMEM doorway-associated vascular opening, tumor cell trans-endothelial migration, and dissemination. These new insights into signaling events regulating TMEM doorway function should be explored further as treatment strategies for metastatic disease.