The Preventive Effect of the Phenotype of Tumour-Associated Macrophages, Regulated by CD39, on Colon Cancer in Mice

Background: This study was designed to investigate the effect of cluster differentiation (CD)39 and CD73 inhibitors on the expresion of tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs), M1- versus M2-tumour phenotypes in mice with colon cancer. Methods: An in vitro study of co-culture with colon cancer cells and immune cells from the bone marrow (BM) of mice was performed. After the confirmation of the effect of polyoxotungstate (POM-1) as an inhibitor of CD39 on TAMs, the mice were randomly divided into a control group without POM-1 and a study group with POM-1, respectively, after subcutaneous injection of CT26 cells. On day 14 after the injection, the mice were sacrificed, and TAMs were evaluated using fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Results: In the in vitro study, the co-culture with POM-1 significantly increased the apoptosis of CT26 cells. The cell population from the co-culture with POM-1 showed significant increases in the expression of CD11b(+) for myeloid cells, lymphocyte antigen 6 complex, locus C (Ly6C(+)) for monocytes, M1-tumour phenotypes from TAMs, and F4/80(+) for macrophages. In the in vivo study, tumour growth in the study group with POM-1 was significantly limited, compared with the control group without POM-1. The expressions of Ly6C(+) and major histocompatibility complex class II+ for M1-tumour phenotypes from TAMs on F4/80(+) from the tumour tissue in the study group had significantly higher values compared with the control group. Conclusion: The inhibition of CD39 with POM-1 prevented the growth of colon cancer in mice, and it was associated with the increased expression of M1-tumour phenotypes from TAMs in the cancer tissue.