Nelson LaMarche, PhD
Research & Publications
Biography
Locations
Extensive Research Description
We are a cancer immunology lab in the Department of Pathology and the Cancer Biology Institute. Working closely with both physicians and basic scientists, we combine high-dimensional profiling of cancer patient tissues with detailed mechanistic studies in mouse models to develop new immunotherapies for solid tumors. While most cancer immunotherapies target T cells, our group primarily studies myeloid cells – monocytes, macrophages, granulocytes, and dendritic cells – which collectively often comprise up to 50% of total tumor cellularity. With the exception of dendritic cells, the majority of studies have demonstrated that myeloid cells promote cancer development through diverse mechanisms, in large part by suppressing the antitumor immune response. However, essentially all myeloid-directed immunotherapies have failed in clinical trials, largely because we lack an understanding of the main drivers of myeloid cell biology in tumors.
One defining feature of myeloid cells, and a central theme of our lab, is that most of these cells begin differentiation in the bone marrow in response to tumor cues, travel through the blood, and then complete their differentiation in the tumor. Throughout this entire cellular life cycle, myeloid cells receive signals that influence their differentiation trajectories and eventual functions within tumors. Therefore, the bone marrow and the tumor microenvironment represent distinct sites that can be targeted for myeloid-directed therapies in cancer and both of these organs must be studied simultaneously. We recently demonstrated that one pathway, the interleukin-4 (IL-4) signaling pathway, is highly upregulated in bone marrow during non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) development, drives the development of tumor-promoting myeloid cells, and can be therapeutically targeted in human cancer patients (LaMarche et al., 2023, Nature).
We integrate themes of metabolism, tissue immunology, and hematopoiesis into our research. Our studies emphasize the growing concept that cancer is a systemic disease, and we analyze how tumors alter normal organ physiology which, in turn, controls the antitumor immune response.
Coauthors
Selected Publications
- An IL-4 signalling axis in bone marrow drives pro-tumorigenic myelopoiesisLaMarche N, Hegde S, Park M, Maier B, Troncoso L, Le Berichel J, Hamon P, Belabed M, Mattiuz R, Hennequin C, Chin T, Reid A, Reyes-Torres I, Nemeth E, Zhang R, Olson O, Doroshow D, Rohs N, Gomez J, Veluswamy R, Hall N, Venturini N, Ginhoux F, Liu Z, Buckup M, Figueiredo I, Roudko V, Miyake K, Karasuyama H, Gonzalez-Kozlova E, Gnjatic S, Passegué E, Kim-Schulze S, Brown B, Hirsch F, Kim B, Marron T, Merad M. An IL-4 signalling axis in bone marrow drives pro-tumorigenic myelopoiesis. Nature 2023, 625: 166-174. PMID: 38057662, PMCID: PMC11189607, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06797-9.
- TREM2 macrophages drive NK cell paucity and dysfunction in lung cancer.Park MD, Reyes-Torres I, LeBerichel J, Hamon P, LaMarche NM, Hegde S, Belabed M, Troncoso L, Grout JA, Magen A, Humblin E, Nair A, Molgora M, Hou J, Newman JH, Farkas AM, Leader AM, Dawson T, D'Souza D, Hamel S, Sanchez-Paulete AR, Maier B, Bhardwaj N, Martin JC, Kamphorst AO, Kenigsberg E, Casanova-Acebes M, Horowitz A, Brown BD, De Andrade LF, Colonna M, Marron TU, Merad M. TREM2 macrophages drive NK cell paucity and dysfunction in lung cancer. Nat Immunol 2023, 24: 792-801. PMID: 37081148, DOI: 10.1038/s41590-023-01475-4.
- Distinct iNKT Cell Populations Use IFNγ or ER Stress-Induced IL-10 to Control Adipose Tissue Homeostasis.LaMarche NM, Kane H, Kohlgruber AC, Dong H, Lynch L, Brenner MB. Distinct iNKT Cell Populations Use IFNγ or ER Stress-Induced IL-10 to Control Adipose Tissue Homeostasis. Cell Metab 2020, 32: 243-258.e6. PMID: 32516575, DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2020.05.017.
- γδ T cells producing interleukin-17A regulate adipose regulatory T cell homeostasis and thermogenesis.Kohlgruber AC, Gal-Oz ST, LaMarche NM, Shimazaki M, Duquette D, Koay HF, Nguyen HN, Mina AI, Paras T, Tavakkoli A, von Andrian U, Uldrich AP, Godfrey DI, Banks AS, Shay T, Brenner MB, Lynch L. γδ T cells producing interleukin-17A regulate adipose regulatory T cell homeostasis and thermogenesis. Nat Immunol 2018, 19: 464-474. PMID: 29670241, DOI: 10.1038/s41590-018-0094-2.