Lung-resident alveolar macrophages regulate the timing of breast cancer metastasis
We find that when disseminated breast cancer cells enter the lung, embryo-derived alveolar macrophages (AMs) serve as an innate immune barrier to metastasis. This occurs because AMs produce signals that induce dormancy in the cancer cells. As cancer evolves, cancer cells eliminate their ability to sense the AM-derived pro-dormancy signals, developing a mechanism of resistance to this AM-dependent innate immune control of metastasis.
