Early TGF-β inhibition in mice reduces the incidence of breast cancer induced bone disease in a myeloid dependent manner

The tumor-cell microenvironment is recognized as a dynamic place where critical cell interactions occur and play an important role in altering tumorigenesis. While many studies have investigated the effects of cellular cross-talk within distinct tumor microenvironments, these interactions have yet to be fully examined in bone. It is well-established that many common cancers metastasize to bone, resulting in the development of tumor-induced bone disease (TIBD), a multi-facetted illness that is driven by complex cell interactions within the bone marrow. Our group has previously published that myeloid progenitor cells expand in the presence of tumors in bone, aligning with the notion that myeloid cells can act as tumor promotors. Several groups, including ours, have established that transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta), an abundant growth factor in bone, can regulate both TIBD and myeloid expansion. TGF-beta inhibitors have been shown to increase bone volume, decrease bone destruction, and reduce but not eliminate tumor. Therefore, we hypothesize that inhibiting TGF-beta will reduce myeloid expansion leading to a reduction of tumor burden in bone and osteoclast-mediated bone loss, causing to an overall reduction in TIBD. To address this hypothesis, two different mouse models of breast cancer bone colonization were pre-treated with the TGF-beta neutralizing antibody, 1D11, prior to tumor inoculation (athymic: MDA-MB-231, BALB/c: 4T1) and continuously treated until sacrifice. Additionally, a genetically modified mouse model with a myeloid specific deletion of transforming growth factor beta receptor II (TGF-beta RII) (TGF-beta RIIMyeKO) was utilized in our studies. Systemic inhibition of TGF-beta lead to fewer osteolytic lesions, and reduced tumor burden in bone as expected from previous studies. Additionally, early TGF-beta inhibition affected expansion of distinct myeloid populations and shifted the cytokine profile of pro-tumorigenic factors in bone, 4T1 tumor cells, and bone-marrow derived macrophages. Similar observations were seen in tumor-bearing TGF-beta RIIMyeKO mice, where these mice contained fewer bone lesions and significantly less tumor burden in bone, suggesting that TGF-beta inhibition regulates myeloid expansion leading to a significant reduction in TIBD.