Tao Yin, Guoping Wang, Liuyang Wang, Poorva Mudgal, Ergang Wang, Christopher C Pan, Peter B Alexander, Haiyang Wu, Chengjie Cao, Yaosi Liang, Lianmei Tan, De Huang, Mengyang Chong, Rui Chen, Bryan Jian Wei Lim, Kun Xiang, Wei Xue, Lixin Wan, Hailan Hu, Yuin-Han Loh, Xiao-Fan Wang, Qi-Jing Li
Melanoma cells, deriving from neuroectodermal melanocytes, may exploit the nervous system's immune privilege for growth. Here we show that nerve growth factor (NGF) has both melanoma cell intrinsic and extrinsic immunosuppressive functions. Autocrine NGF engages tropomyosin receptor kinase A (TrkA) on melanoma cells to desensitize interferon γ signaling, leading to T and natural killer cell exclusion. In effector T cells that upregulate surface TrkA expression upon T cell receptor activation, paracrine NGF dampens T cell receptor signaling and effector function...
February 2024: Nature Immunology