CCL3 is produced by aged neutrophils across cancers and promotes tumor growth.

Cancer cell
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

Tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs) are abundant across cancers, yet their phenotypic diversity and functional states remain poorly defined. Here, we introduce a cell-type probability classifier that recovers low-transcript neutrophils from scRNAseq datasets, enabling pan-cancer analyses of TAN heterogeneity. Across >190 human and murine tumors, we identify a conserved differentiation trajectory that culminates in a terminal CCL3 state. This state exhibits pro-tumor transcriptional programs, including those involved in hypoxic adaptation and senescence. Consistently, CCL3 TANs are enriched in hypoxic tumor niches in both humans and mice. Through mechanistic perturbations of neutrophil-derived CCL3 in mice, we show that it sustains TAN survival in hypoxic tumor regions via CCR1-dependent signaling. These findings establish CCL3 as a conserved marker and functional driver of pro-tumor neutrophils in growing tumors, and provide a scalable framework for dissecting neutrophil biology across cancer types.

Year of Publication
2026
Journal
Cancer cell
Date Published
02/2026
ISSN
1878-3686
DOI
10.1016/j.ccell.2026.01.006
PubMed ID
41650972
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