SPP1+ TAM subpopulations in tumor microenvironment promote intravasation and metastasis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Macrophages are heterogeneous cells that play multifaceted roles in cancer progression and metastasis. However, the phenotypic diversity of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in head and neck squamous carcinomas (HNSCC) remains poorly characterized. Here, we comprehensively analyzed the HNSCC single-cell transcriptomic dataset (GSE172577) and identified 5 subsets of myeloid-driven cells as TAMs using Seurat. Deciphering the lineage trajectory of TAMs, we revealed that FCN1 + TAMs could give rise to pro-angiogenesis SPP1 + CCL18 + and SPP1 + FOLR2 + populations through SPP1 − CCL18 + and CXCL9 + CXCL10 + TAMs. SPP1 + CCL18 + and SPP1 + FOLR2 + TAMs harbored pro-angiogenic and metastatic transcriptional programs and were correlated with poor survival of HNSCC patients. Our immunostaining examination revealed that infiltration of SPP1 + TAMs is associated with lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis in patients with HNSCC. Cell-cell communication analysis implied that SPP1 + TAM populations may employ SPP1 signaling to activate metastasis-related ECs. In vitro and in vivo studies, we demonstrated that SPP1 hi TAMs enhanced tumor intravasation and metastasis in HNSCC in a manner dependent on the secretion of SPP1, CCL18, and CXCL8. Taken together, our study characterized the cellular heterogeneity of TAM populations and identified two SPP1 + TAM populations that play key roles in HNSCC intravasation and metastasis and serve as predictive markers for patients with HNSCC.