ETS1‐Driven Nucleolar Stress Orchestrates OLR1<sup>+</sup> Macrophage Crosstalk to Sustain Immunosuppressive Microenvironment in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

While hypoxia-driven nucleolar stress (NS) has been recognized as a critical modulator of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), its mechanistic contribution to disease progression remains poorly defined. To address this gap, we systematically mapped NS-associated molecular landscapes through integrated spatial transcriptomics and single-cell RNA sequencing of ccRCC specimens. Our analysis stratified tumors into two distinct NS subtypes, revealing that high-NS tumors exhibit aggressive clinical behavior, elevated expression of immunosuppressive checkpoints, and significantly reduced survival. At single-cell resolution, high-NS malignant cells displayed enhanced proliferative activity, glycolytic metabolic reprograming, and marked chromosomal instability. Mechanistic investigations demonstrated that hypoxia-induced ETS1 activation orchestrates NS via the MYC/NPM1/DDX17 signaling axis, directly promoting tumor proliferation and metabolic adaptation in preclinical models. Spatial multiomics further uncovered coordinated niche formation between high-NS cells and OLR1<sup>+</sup> macrophages, with ligand-receptor profiling identifying the EDN1-EDNRA-OLR1 axis as a central mediator of this immunosuppressive crosstalk. Functional validation in syngeneic mouse models confirmed that ETS1 overexpression accelerates tumor growth while enriching OLR1<sup>+</sup> macrophages with immunosuppressive phenotypes. Clinically, high OLR1<sup>+</sup> macrophage infiltration correlated with shorter survival across independent cohorts. These findings establish a hypoxia-ETS1-NS-macrophage axis as a key mechanism sustaining ccRCC progression and highlight actionable targets for disrupting protumorigenic immune niches through modulation of the NS pathway.

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Publication Details

Journal
Human Mutation
Published
2025-01-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1155/humu/8856239
Primary Topic
Renal cell carcinoma treatment
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

ETS1‐Driven Nucleolar Stress Orchestrates OLR1+ Macrophage Crosstalk to Sustain Immunosuppressive Microenvironment in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Yuyin Jiang, Tong Li, Wei Tang, Lei Xiao et al.
Human Mutation
Renal cell carcinoma treatment
article

ETS1‐Driven Nucleolar Stress Orchestrates OLR1+ Macrophage Crosstalk to Sustain Immunosuppressive Microenvironment in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Yuyin Jiang, Tong Li, Wei Tang, Lei Xiao, Jia Wang, Zicheng Zhang, Yuanxin Liu
article en

Abstract

While hypoxia-driven nucleolar stress (NS) has been recognized as a critical modulator of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), its mechanistic contribution to disease progression remains poorly defined. To address this gap, we systematically mapped NS-associated molecular landscapes through integrated spatial transcriptomics and single-cell RNA sequencing of ccRCC specimens. Our analysis stratified tumors into two distinct NS subtypes, revealing that high-NS tumors exhibit aggressive clinical behavior, elevated expression of immunosuppressive checkpoints, and significantly reduced survival. At single-cell resolution, high-NS malignant cells displayed enhanced proliferative activity, glycolytic metabolic reprograming, and marked chromosomal instability. Mechanistic investigations demonstrated that hypoxia-induced ETS1 activation orchestrates NS via the MYC/NPM1/DDX17 signaling axis, directly promoting tumor proliferation and metabolic adaptation in preclinical models. Spatial multiomics further uncovered coordinated niche formation between high-NS cells and OLR1<sup>+</sup> macrophages, with ligand-receptor profiling identifying the EDN1-EDNRA-OLR1 axis as a central mediator of this immunosuppressive crosstalk. Functional validation in syngeneic mouse models confirmed that ETS1 overexpression accelerates tumor growth while enriching OLR1<sup>+</sup> macrophages with immunosuppressive phenotypes. Clinically, high OLR1<sup>+</sup> macrophage infiltration correlated with shorter survival across independent cohorts. These findings establish a hypoxia-ETS1-NS-macrophage axis as a key mechanism sustaining ccRCC progression and highlight actionable targets for disrupting protumorigenic immune niches through modulation of the NS pathway.

Human MutationVol. 2025(1)
Hohai University (CN), Nanjing Medical University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Openalex Percentile: Top 60%
Renal cell carcinoma treatment
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