Radiation-induced amphiregulin drives tumor metastases

In this study, we demonstrate that radiation induces the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) ligand amphiregulin (AREG) in tumor cells, which stimulates distant metastasis proliferation in both patients and pre-clinical murine tumor models. Using single-cell RNAseq (sc-RNAseq), we characterized the effects of AREG-induction on immune cells in the lung metastatic microenvironment of B6 mice. Overall design: AREG-sufficient or AREG-KO Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) tumors were implanted into the flanks of B6 mice and flank tumors were treated with high-dose irradiation, 12 days after tumor injection. Sc-RNAseq was performed on the CD45+ cells from lung tissue (site of metastases) five days after irradiation of the subcutaneous flank tumor.