IL1R2 Deficiency Unleashes Neutrophil-Mediated Antitumor Potential in Sarcoma

Interleukin 1 (IL1) plays dual functions in cancer. It promotes cancer-related inflammation and progression but also influences leukocyte functional activation. IL1 receptor 2 (IL1R2) functions as an IL1 decoy receptor, inhibiting IL1 activity. In this study, we investigated the contribution of IL1R2 in tuning IL1-dependent effects in mouse models of cancer, including colorectal cancer, lung cancer, and primary and metastatic transplantable and chemically induced sarcoma. Even though the prominent role of IL1 is protumoral, IL1R2 deficiency was selectively associated with reduced sarcoma growth, whereas it was irrelevant in other preclinical models investigated. IL1R2 deficiency was associated with a massive infiltration of neutrophils in the tumor, neutrophilia, and increased extramedullary emergency granulopoiesis. Neutrophils were crucial for tumor control in IL1R2-deficient mice. Immunophenotypic and transcriptional profiling of sarcoma-infiltrating neutrophils revealed that IL1R2 deficiency was associated with higher expression of activation or maturation markers and gene expression reprogramming, with downregulation of pathways associated with protumoral functions. In patients with sarcoma, the IL1R2 deficiency gene signature correlated with better clinical outcomes. Thus, this study shows that IL1R2 tunes IL1-driven cancer-associated emergency granulopoiesis and neutrophil functional activation to an antitumor mode in sarcomas and reveals the antitumor potential of neutrophils in this tumor.