Our latest publication from Governa et al. entitled "Protumoral lipid droplet–loaded macrophages are enriched in human glioblastoma and can be therapeutically targeted" has been accepted in Science Translational Medicine, on October 2nd 2024. On top of that, we have been chosen to be the cover of the monthly issue.
Our publication has shown the discovery of Tumor Associated Foam cells (TAFs) in human glioblastoma and its potential targeting to advance the therapeutics.
Abstract:
Glioblastoma presents a formidable clinical challenge because of its complex microenvironment. Here, we characterized tumor-associated foam cells (TAFs), a type of lipid droplet–loaded macrophage, in human glioblastoma. Through extensive analyses of patient tumors, together with in vitro and in vivo investigations, we found that TAFs exhibit distinct protumorigenic characteristics related to hypoxia, mesenchymal transition, angiogenesis, and impaired phagocytosis, and their presence correlates with worse outcomes for patients with glioma. We further demonstrated that TAF formation is facilitated by lipid scavenging from extracellular vesicles released by glioblastoma cells. We found that targeting key enzymes involved in lipid droplet formation, such as diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase or long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase, effectively disrupted TAF functionality. Together, these data highlight TAFs as a prominent immune cell population in glioblastoma and provide insights into their contribution to the tumor microenvironment. Disrupting lipid droplet formation to target TAFs may represent an avenue for future therapeutic development for glioblastoma.
Read the full article here: