In this study, we firstly used TCGA ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma data sets to analyze the infiltration of 22 kinds of immune cells in the immune microenvironment of ovarian cancer by CIBERSORT method. Research data showed that there were many kinds of immune cells infiltrating in ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma, but the infiltrating proportion of certain immune cell types was significantly different in different samples. Among them, M1 Macrophases has extensive infiltration in the microenvironment, and was closely related to cancer progression and prognosis.
Tumor associated Macrophages evolved from peripheral blood monocytes,and further infiltrated into the tumor tissue [26, 27]. This immune cell was characterized by higher infiltration proportion in the tumor immune microenvironment and diverse functions. Recent studies have shown that the activated Macrophages in tumor immune microenvironment mainly included two subtypes, M1 and M2 Macrophages. The activation of M2 Macrophages depends on the induction of IL-4, IL-10, IL-13, vitamin D3, TGF-β and other molecules; and activated cells promote tumor progression by secreting IL-10, VEGF and other anti-inflammatory cytokines; M1 Macrophages were activated by IFN-γ, GM-CS and other factors, they could exert anti-tumor effect by secreting pro-inflammatory cytokines or mediating tumor antigen-related immune response [28–30]. Previous studies have shown that M1 Macrophages had obvious infiltration in a variety of malignancies, such as gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, etc., and the prognosis of cancer patients with high M1 infiltration or high M1/ M2 infiltration ratio was significantly improved [31–33]. In addition, similar to the results of this study, a study based on more than 2000 patients diagnosed as ovarian cancer found that high-grade serous ovarian cancer existed obvious M1 Macrophages infiltration, and the infiltration level was positively correlated with well prognosis[34]. Besides affecting the prognosis of patients, the infiltration of M1 Macrophages was also significantly associated with tumor progression, the M1 Macrophages proportion in low-grade ovarian cancer was significantly lower than that in high-grade ovarian cancer. In conclusion, the above data suggest that M1 Macrophages was a key factor affecting the progression and prognosis of ovarian cancer. However, the factors responsible for the low infiltration of M1 Macrophages were still unclear, and need to be further explored.
Reviewing previous studies, the mechanisms of Macrophages polarization in tumor immune microenvironment has been partially revealed. For example, it has been reported that the proportion of M2 Macrophages in the microenvironment was increased following the activation of Linc01140/Mir-140-5p/FGF9 axis in bladder cancer [35]; the infiltration of M2 or M1 Macrophages around the tumor was respectively increased or decreased by KRT6A transcriptional regulation in pancreatic cancer [36]; the polarization and function of Macrophages in the microenvironment were also affected by metabolic products such as lactic acid, adenosine, and glutamine [37, 38]. Furthermore, studies on Macrophages polarization regulation in ovarian cancer have also been reported. For example, ovarian cancer cell inhibited the infiltration of M1 Macrophages in local microenvironment by regulating Wnt5a (atypical Wnt ligand) expression; RNA binding protein SORBS2 bound to the 3 'untranslated regions of WFDC1 or IL-17D to induce Macrophages differentiation into M2 type, and form suppressive tumor immune microenvironment [39]. In order to further explore the interfering factor of M1 Macrophages infiltration in ovarian cancer, we calculated and analyzed the M1 Macrophages infiltration abundance (IM1A) of each ovarian cancer patient, and the analysis results showed that M1 Macrophages infiltration level was negatively correlated with poor prognosis; multiple pathways in ovarian cancer were significantly correlated with IM1A; and the correlation coefficient of Antigen processing and presentation pathway was as high as 0.8, suggested that the polarization of tumor associated Macrophages might be affected by Antigen processing and presentation pathway Presentation pathway regulation.
Antigen processing and presentation is a process in which MHC molecules combine with antigen peptides and then transfer to the cell surface for specific immune cells to recognize, including endogenous antigen presentation mediated by MHC class I molecules and exogenous antigen presentation mediated by MHC class II molecules [40, 41]. Antigen processing and presentation plays an important role in immune cell activation and inflammatory mediators release, phagocyte mediated pathogen killing, tumor cell killing and so on [41]. Previous studies have shown that MHC class I pathway related genes were abnormally expressed in many malignant tumors (including colorectal cancer, melanoma, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, etc.), involving HLA ABC, B2M, antigen presenting machine (APM) and other genes; meanwhile, gene mutations (including HLA haplotype loss, HLA allelic loss, B2M heterozygosity loss, IFN transduction pathway), and hypermethylation (transcriptional factors for the transcription of MHC class I genes) also reduced the expression of HLA, ABC, B2M, and APM genes [42, 43]. The abnormal expression of these genes was involved in the malignant progression of tumor through a variety of pathways, and resulted in poorer prognosis [44, 45]. Among them, the mechanism of tumor immune escape mediated by gene abnormal expression deserves our attention, mainly including the decreased infiltration of T lymphocyte in tumor microenvironment, suppression of immune response, and inactivation of killing [46]. In addition, Francisco Perea and other researchers found that the less infiltration of CD8+ T cells was observed in non-small cell lung cancer with decreased HLA class I expression, as well as the proportion of M1 Macrophages [47]. Combined with our results and previous results, it was suggested that the lower expression of MHC class I genes in ovarian cancer was involved in regulating the polarization of tumor associated Macrophages, which led to the decrease of the proportion of M1 Macrophages in the microenvironment. Reviewing the literature, the mechanism of MHC class I gene regulating TAM polarization was rarely reported. Only Francisco Perea has reported that the regulation of MHC class I genes on TAM polarization was a complex process involving fibroblasts, tumor cells, lymphocytes and other components [47]. We further analyzed the correlation between IM1A score and MHC class I gene expression, and found that IM1A score was significantly correlated with the expression of HLA, HLA B, HLA C, HLA e, HLA F, B2M, TAP1, TAP2, TAPBP and other genes, suggesting that these genes might participate in TAM polarization regulation, but the specific upstream and downstream regulatory mechanisms needed experimental exploration and verification.
In addition, the detection of M1 Macrophages infiltration levels and APP pathway expression levels in ovarian cancer was helpful to assess the prognosis of ovarian cancer patients, and to guide the treatment for some patients. It was reported that the inhibition of MHC class I gene expression could be divided into reversibility and irreversibility. Irreversibility was related to gene mutation, while reversibility was related to transcriptional regulation. Immunotherapy with IFN-γ or other cytokines could promote the MHC class I genes expression and prolong survival of patients with reversible inhibition, but it was not effective for patients with irreversible inhibition. In addition, IFN-γ was also one of the key factors for affecting the polarization of M1 Macrophages. Therefore, ovarian cancer patients with abnormal MHC class I pathway expression caused by transcriptional regulation could attempt IFN-γ based immunotherapy. IFN-γ could reverse MHC class I genes expression and induce TAM to differentiate into M1 Macrophages, so as to maximize the survival benefit of ovarian cancer patients (the data of this study show that IM1A score high & APP score high ovarian cancer patients had the best prognosis, while IM1A score low & APP score low ovarian cancer patients has the worst prognosis); patients with related gene mutations can try adoptive T cell or NK cell therapy, or tumor vaccine therapy. However, the exact therapeutic effect of the above treatment needs to be further verified by animal experiments and clinical trials.