Myeloid cell networks govern re-establishment of original immune landscapes in recurrent ovarian cancer.

Overview

Immunotherapy has shown limited success in recurrent ovarian cancer (OC), with prognostic insights largely derived from treatment-naive tumors. We analyzed 697 tumor samples (566 primary and 131 recurrent) from 595 OC patients across five independent cohorts, capturing tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) heterogeneity and identifying four immune phenotypes linked to prognosis and TIL:myeloid networks driving malignant progression. We found that in preclinical mouse models, mirroring inflamed human OCs, the recurrent Brca1^mut tumors maintained activated TILs:dendritic cells (DCs) niches but evaded immune control through upregulation of COX/PGE₂ signaling. Conversely, recurrent Brca1^wt tumors displayed loss of TILs:DCs niches and accumulated immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) networks featuring Trem2/ApoE^high tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) and Nduf4l2^high/Galectin3^high malignant states. Recurrent tumors recapitulate the immunogenic landscapes of original cancers. Our findings reveal BRCA-dependent TIL:myeloid crosstalk as key to persistent immunogenicity in recurrent OC and propose new targets to enhance chemotherapy efficacy.