Prune-1 drives polarization of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) within the lung metastatic niche in triple-negative breast cancer.

M2-tumor-associated macrophages (M2-TAMs) in the tumor microenvironment represent a prognostic indicator for poor outcome in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Here we show that Prune-1 overexpression in human TNBC patients has positive correlation to lung metastasis and infiltrating M2-TAMs. Thus, we demonstrate that Prune-1 promotes lung metastasis in a genetically engineered mouse model of metastatic TNBC augmenting M2-polarization of TAMs within the tumor microenvironment. Thus, this occurs through TGF-ß enhancement, IL-17F secretion, and extracellular vesicle protein content modulation. We also find murine inactivating gene variants in human TNBC patient cohorts that are involved in activation of the innate immune response, cell adhesion, apoptotic pathways, and DNA repair. Altogether, we indicate that the overexpression of Prune-1, IL-10, COL4A1, ILR1, and PDGFB, together with inactivating mutations of PDE9A, CD244, Sirpb1b, SV140, Iqca1, and PIP5K1B genes, might represent a route of metastatic lung dissemination that need future prognostic validations.

Detection of Human Papillomaviruses in the Nasopharynx of Breastfed Infants: New Findings and Meta-Analysis.

Vertical transmission of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) from mother to infant is known to occur during labor, delivery or breastfeeding. Infection with mucosal HPV 6 and 11 may cause recurrent respiratory papillomatosis in children, which is a rare and severe respiratory disease. The cutaneous HPV genotypes have also been described to be transmitted from mother to newborn through skin-to-skin contacts and during breastfeeding. To investigate the perinatal transmission of alpha and beta HPVs we collected nasopharyngeal specimens from 0-12-months-old infants born by vaginal delivery and breastfed at the time of sample collection. The mucosal and cutaneous HPVs were searched by nested PCR using the MY09/11-MGPs and CP65/70-CP66/69 primer sets, respectively, and genotypes identified by direct sequencing analysis. Fourteen out of 113 (12.4%) samples tested positive for HPV and sequence analysis allowed us to identify eight beta genotypes (HPV 5b, 20, 25, 100, 107, 124, 152 and RTRX7). Moreover, we performed a comprehensive review of published studies on the prevalence of mucosal and cutaneous HPVs among 5126 newborns and observed that 10% and 53% were positive for alpha and beta HPVs, respectively. In all studies there was an inverse correlation between the rate of alpha HPV positivity and age, while a significant positive trend was observed in beta HPV detection and age with the highest rate among children older than 12 months (Χ2 test for trend of 10.6, p < 0.001). Further studies are needed to confirm the hypothesis that beta HPVs are transmitted to breastfeeding infants through shedding of viruses in the breast milk or on the external breast epithelium.