Sphingosine kinase 2 deficient tumor xenografts show impaired growth and fail to polarize macrophages towards an anti-inflammatory phenotype.

A challenging task of the immune system is to fight cancer cells. However, a variety of human cancers educate immune cells to become tumor supportive. This is exemplified for tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), which are polarized towards an anti-inflammatory and cancer promoting phenotype. Mechanistic explanations, how cancer cells influence the macrophage phenotype are urgently needed to address potential anti-cancer strategies along this line. One potential immune modulating compound, sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), was recently highlighted in both tumor growth and immune modulation. Using a xenograft model in nude mice, we demonstrate a supportive role of sphingosine kinase 2 (SphK2), one of the S1P-producing enzymes for tumor progression. The growth of SphK2-deficient MCF-7 breast tumor xenografts was markedly delayed when compared with controls. Infiltration of macrophages in SphK2-deficient and control tumors was comparable. However, TAMs from SphK2-deficient tumors displayed a pronounced anti-tumor phenotype, showing an increased expression of pro-inflammatory markers/mediators such as NO, TNF-alpha, IL-12 and MHCII and a low expression of anti-inflammatory IL-10 and CD206. These data suggest a role for S1P, generated by SphK2, in early tumor development by affecting macrophage polarization. (c) 2009 UICC.