Abstract 439: From foe to friend: In vivo reprogramming of tumor-associated macrophages to an anti-cancer phenotype by modulating N-myristoyltransferase activity

Abstract

Abstract Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) play a central role in cancer by driving tumor growth, metastasis, therapy failure and cancer recurrence. Macrophage plasticity and diversity allows classification along a M1-M2 polarization axis, where TAMs have a M2-like polarization, associated with a pro-tumoral phenotype, whereas M1 macrophages exhibit anti-tumor functions. Reprogramming TAMs to a M1-like anti-cancer phenotype is an increasingly coveted therapeutic strategy in oncology. Here, we report TAMs can be favorably reprogrammed by modulating N-myristoyltransferase (NMT) activity using on-target, drug-like inhibitors (NMTi). We identified >100 N-myristoylated proteins differentially expressed by macrophages along the M1-M2 polarization axis. In TAM-like M2 macrophages, 42 N-myristoylated proteins exhibited higher NMTi sensitivity as compared to other polarizations, and these NMT substrates significantly enriched in anti-inflammatory, immunity- and metabolism-related pathways. Unique to TAM-like M2 macrophages, NMT modulation by NMTi induces significant transcriptomic and proteomic changes, effectively switching the polarization towards a M1-like anti-cancer phenotype that is characterized by a M1-like spindle morphology, a M1-like glycolytic state, and induction of a pro-inflammatory secretome exhibiting potent anti-tumoral activity towards ovarian cancer spheroids in vitro. In vivo proof-of-principle was established in the syngeneic, macrophage-driven ID8 mouse model for human ovarian cancer, where NMTi treatment significantly reprogrammed murine M2-like TAMs into a M1-like anti-cancer phenotype, concomitantly reducing tumor burden without observable side-effects, and significantly extending median survival by 16 days. We are currently further investigating the intricacies that N-myristoylation plays in macrophage polarization, as well as further establishing the scope of NMTi-driven in vivo reprogramming of TAMs beyond ovarian cancer. Citation Format: Wouter W. Kallemeijn, Sarah Spear, Josephine Walton, Claudio Bussi, Christelle Soudy, Helen R. Flynn, Mark Skehel, David Carling, Roberto Solari, Iain A. McNeish, Edward W. Tate. From foe to friend: In vivo reprogramming of tumor-associated macrophages to an anti-cancer phenotype by modulating N-myristoyltransferase activity [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 439.