The Atypical Chemokine Receptor Ackr2 Constrains NK Cell Migratory Activity and Promotes Metastasis.

Chemokines have been shown to be essential players in a range of cancer contexts. In this study, we demonstrate that mice deficient in the atypical chemokine receptor Ackr2 display impaired development of metastasis in vivo in both cell line and spontaneous models. Further analysis reveals that this relates to increased expression of the chemokine receptor CCR2, specifically by KLRG1+ NK cells from the Ackr2-/- mice. This leads to increased recruitment of KLRG1+ NK cells to CCL2-expressing tumors and enhanced tumor killing. Together, these data indicate that Ackr2 limits the expression of CCR2 on NK cells and restricts their tumoricidal activity. Our data have important implications for our understanding of the roles for chemokines in the metastatic process and highlight Ackr2 and CCR2 as potentially manipulable therapeutic targets in metastasis.

Cell-autonomous regulation of neutrophil migration by the D6 chemokine decoy receptor.

Chemokines, acting on their cognate receptors on infiltrating leukocytes, drive the inflammatory response. We have been interested in determining roles and potential mechanisms for the atypical chemokine-scavenging receptor D6 in the regulation of inflammation. In this study, we show that a psoriasis-like pathology that arises in inflamed skins of D6-deficient mice is characterized by a massive and aberrant localization of neutrophils to the dermal/epidermal junction, which is associated with development of the pathology. Such misplacement of neutrophils is also seen with D6-deficient mice in other inflammatory models, suggesting a role for D6 in the spatial positioning of neutrophils within inflamed sites. We further show that D6 functions cell autonomously in this context and that D6, expressed by neutrophils, limits their migrational responses to CCR1 ligands such as CCL3. Our data therefore indicate that D6 is able to play a cell-autonomous role as a migratory rheostat restricting migration of D6-expressing cells such as neutrophils toward ligands for coexpressed inflammatory chemokine receptors. These data have important implications for our understanding of the roles for D6 in regulating inflammation and for our understanding of the control of spatial positioning of leukocytes at inflamed sites.