Deep Vein Thrombosis-primed neutrophils reshape the brain microenvironment to promote brain metastasis

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is linked to higher brain metastasis risk in metastatic breast cancer patients, and DVT selectively boosts brain metastasis in syngeneic TNBC models.

• Why it matters: The host macroenvironmental conditions that shape brain metastatic susceptibility in triple-negative breast cancer are not well defined, despite DVT being common in cancer patients.
• What they did: In a large clinical cohort, DVT was tested as an independent risk factor for brain metastasis, and two syngeneic TNBC models assessed effects on primary, lung, and brain metastases.
• The result: DVT increased brain neutrophil accumulation, and neutrophil depletion eliminated DVT’s metastasis-promoting effect; single-cell profiling showed DVT reprograms circulating neutrophils toward NET formation, with higher CXCR2 and circulating NETs.

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