Invited Talk: Integration of Immuno-Metabolic Profiling in Monocytes and Macrophages in Tumor Settings Indicate Their Metabolic Re-Programming for Tumor Promotion

Metabolic re-programming is a key hallmark of cancer cells, wherein these cells change their metabolism to adapt to the tumor microenviromment. However, whether immune cells like monocytes and macrophages which are important regulators of cancer progression, also undergo such metabolic changes in a tumor setting is still not well-studied. To this end, we generated tumor-conditioned monocytes and macrophages and studied their expression of metabolic genes, key metabolites, and flux distribution of targeted metabolic pathways. Integrating these results demonstrated a skewing of energy metabolism in the tumor-conditioned monocytes/macrophages that regulated their immuno-metabolic phenotype. This was also validated in vivo in tumor associated macrophages from patients, where immuno-metabolic markers associated with this metabolic skewing correlated with clinical prognosis. Finally, mechanistic studies linked the metabolic skewing of these cells to their tumor promoting functions. Collectively, these results suggest metabolic re-programming of monocyte-macrophages in cancer and how this influences cancer progression.