Glioblastoma induces the recruitment and differentiation of dendritic-like “hybrid” neutrophils from skull bone marrow

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2024.08.008
• Publication Date: 2024-09-09T14:49:19Z
• Authors: Meeki Lad; Angad S. Beniwal; Saket Jain; Poojan Shukla; Venina Kalistratova; Jangham Jung; Sumedh S. Shah; Garima Yagnik; Atul Saha; Ankita Sati; Husam Babikir; Alan T. Nguyen; Sabraj Gill; Jennifer Rios; Jacob S. Young; Austin Lui; Diana Salha; Aaron Diaz; Manish K. Aghi
• Keywords: Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice; Neutrophils; Brain Neoplasms; Bone Marrow; Cell Line, Tumor; Skull; Humans; Animals; Cell Differentiation; Dendritic Cells; Glioblastoma

Tumor-associated neutrophil (TAN) effects on glioblastoma (GBM) biology remain under-characterized. We show here that neutrophils with dendritic features-including morphological complexity, expression of antigen presentation genes, and the ability to process exogenous peptide and stimulate major histocompatibility complex (MHC)II-dependent T cell activation-accumulate intratumorally and suppress tumor growth in vivo. Trajectory analysis of patient TAN scRNA-seq identifies this "hybrid" dendritic-neutrophil phenotype as a polarization state that is distinct from canonical cytotoxic TANs, and which differentiates from local precursors. These hybrid-inducible immature neutrophils-which we identified in patient and murine glioblastomas-arise not from circulation, but from local skull marrow. Through labeled skull flap transplantation and targeted ablation, we characterize calvarial marrow as a contributor of antitumoral myeloid antigen-presenting cells (APCs), including TANs, which elicit T cell cytotoxicity and memory. As such, agents augmenting neutrophil egress from skull marrow-such as intracalvarial AMD3100, whose survival-prolonging effect in GBM we report-present therapeutic potential.