Let-7a suppresses macrophage infiltrations and malignant phenotype of Ewing sarcoma via STAT3/NF-κB positive regulatory circuit

The interaction between tumors cells, tumor-derived humoral factors and the bone marrow in the bone niches has been shown to be essential for bone tumor initiation and promotion. Among the tumor stromal cells, tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are usually the most abundant immune population. Previously, we reported that let-7a functions as a tumor suppressor in ES. Herein, we found that the suppressive effects are not only limited on the malignant phenotype of tumor cells but also on the regulation of macrophage infiltration. We observed that the let-7a expression is negatively related to macrophage infiltrations in ES. Moreover, overexpression of putative ts-miRNA let-7a significantly suppressed the recruitment of PBMCs in vitro and decreased the macrophage infiltrations in ES-xenografted tumors in vivo. Most importantly, a positive regulatory feedback loop consisting of let-7a, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) (let-7a/STAT3/NF-κB) was involved in let-7a-mediated suppressive effects. These data might provide evidence of a novel intracellular signaling network function in ES pathogenesis, and manipulating this novel feedback loop will have therapeutic potential for ES patients.