Branched glycopolymer prodrug-derived nanoassembly combined with a STING agonist activates an immuno-supportive status to boost anti-PD-L1 antibody therapy

 

This new article publication from Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, discusses how branched glycopolymer prodrug-derived nanoassembly combined with a STING agonist activates an immuno-supportive status to boost anti-PD-L1 antibody therapy.

 

Despite the great potential of anti-PD-L1 antibodies for immunotherapy, their low response rate due to an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment has hampered their application.

 

To address this issue, the authors of this article constructed a cell membrane-coated nanosystem (mB4S) to reverse an immunosuppressive microenvironment to an immuno-supportive one for strengthening the anti-tumor effect. In this system, Epirubicin (EPI) as an immunogenic cell death (ICD) inducer was coupled to a branched glycopolymer via hydrazone bonds and diABZI as a stimulator of interferon genes (STING) agonist was encapsulated into mB4S. After internalization of mB4S, EPI was acidic-responsively released to induce ICD, which was characterized by an increased level of calreticulin (CRT) exposure and enhanced ATP secretion. Meanwhile, diABZI effectively activated the STING pathway.

 

Treatment with mB4S in combination with an anti-PD-L1 antibody elicited potent immune responses by increasing the ratio of matured dendritic cells (DCs) and CD8+ T cells, promoting cytokines secretion, up-regulating M1-like tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and down-regulating immunosuppressive myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs).

 

Therefore, this nanosystem for co-delivery of an ICD inducer and a STING agonist achieved promotion of DCs maturation and CD8+ T cells infiltration, creating an immuno-supportive microenvironment, thus potentiating the therapy effect of the anti-PD-L1 antibody in both 4T1 breast and CT26 colon tumor mice.

 

Keywords: Glycopolymer; Polymer prodrug; Immunogenic cell death; Nanoassembly; Epirubicin; STING pathway; Immuno-supportive microenvironment; Immunotherapy

Graphical Abstract: available at  

A branched glycopolymer-EPI prodrug-derived nanoassembly combined with a STING agonist to remodel an immunosuppressive microenvironment to an immuno-supportive one, thus potentiating the therapy effect of anti-PD-L1 antibodies.

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The Journal of the Institute of Materia Medica, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

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CiteScore: 19.4

Impact Factor: 14.5

JIF without self-citation: 13.7

ISSN 2211-3835

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Zhilin Li, Qianfeng Zhang, Zhiqian Li, Long Ren, Dayi Pan, Qiyong Gong, Zhongwei Gu, Hao Cai, Kui Luo, Branched glycopolymer prodrug-derived nanoassembly combined with a STING agonist activates an immuno-supportive status to boost anti-PD-L1 antibody therapy, Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, Volume 14, Issue 5, 2024, Pages 2194-2209, ISSN 2211-3835,

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