Extracellular pH modulating injectable gel for enhancing immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy

JOURNAL OF CONTROLLED RELEASE

卷:315

Article

Jin, Hyung-seung¹  Choi, Da-som¹  Ko, Minkyung²  Kim, Dongkap^3,4  Lee, Dong-hee¹  Lee, Soojin³  Lee, Ah Young²  Kang, Seung Goo⁵  Kim, Soo Hyun^3,6  Jung, Youngmee^3,7  Jeong, Youngdo^3,7  Chung, Justin J.³  Park, Yoon³ 

[1] Univ Ulsan, Coll Med, ASAN Med Ctr, ASAN Inst Life Sci, Seoul 05505, South Korea

[2] KIST, Biomed Res Inst, Ctr Theragnosis, Seoul 02792, South Korea

[3] KIST, Biomed Res Inst, Ctr Biomat, Seoul 02792, South Korea

[4] Hanyang Univ, Dept Chem, Seoul 04763, South Korea

[5] Kangwon Natl Univ, Div Biomed Convergence, Coll Biomed Sci, Chunchon 24341, South Korea

[6] Korea Univ, KU KIST Grad Sch Converging Sci & Technol, Seoul 136705, South Korea

[7] Korea Univ Sci & Technol, KIST Sch, Div Biomed Sci & Technol, Seoul 02792, South Korea

关键词: T cell;    Immunotherapy;    Biomaterials;    Hydrogel;    pH;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jconrel.2019.10.041

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Clinical data from diverse cancer types shows that the increased T cell infiltration in tumors correlates with improved patient prognosis. Acidic extracellular pH is a major attribute of the tumor microenvironment (TME) that promotes immune evasion and tumor progression. Therefore, antagonizing tumor acidity can be a powerful approach in cancer immunotherapy. Here, Pluronic F-127 is used as a NaHCO3 releasing carrier to focally alleviate extracellular tumor acidity. In a mouse tumor model, intratumoral treatment with pH modulating injectable gel (pHe-MIG) generates immune-favorable TME, as evidenced by the decrease of immune-suppressive cells and increase of tumor infiltrating CD8 + T cells. The combination of pHe-MIG with immune checkpoint inhibitors, anti-PD-1 and anti-TIGIT antibodies, increases intratumoral T cell function, which leads to tumor clearance. Mechanistically, extracellular acidity was shown to upregulate co-inhibitory immune checkpoint receptors and inhibit mTOR signaling pathways in memory CD8 + T cells, which impaired effector functions. Furthermore, an acidic pH environment increased the expression and engagement of TIGIT and its ligand CD155, which suggested that the extracellular pH can regulate the suppressive function of TIGIT pathway. Collectively, these findings suggest that pHe-MIG holds potential as a new TME modulator for effective immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies.

【 授权许可】

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