Genetically Engineered Macrophages Co‐Loaded with CD47 Inhibitors Synergistically Reconstruct Efferocytosis and Improve Cardiac Remodeling Post Myocardial Ischemia Reperfusion Injury

Article

Author: Fu, Yuyuan ; Zhu, Guangrui ; Li, Weiyan ; Wang, Qiaozi ; Yang, Hongbo ; Gao, Jinfeng ; Dong, Zheng ; Han, Chengzhi ; Tan, Yiwen ; Huang, Zheyong ; Song, Yanan ; Li, Qiyu ; Pang, Zhiqing ; Ge, Junbo ; Weng, Xueyi ; Chen, Jing ; Qian, Juying ; Wang, Zhengmin ; Cai, Shiteng ; Tan, Haipeng

AbstractEfferocytosis, mediated by the macrophage receptor MerTK (myeloid‐epithelial‐reproductive tyrosine kinase), is a significant contributor to cardiac repair after myocardial ischemia‐reperfusion (MI/R) injury. However, the death of resident cardiac macrophages (main effector cells), inactivation of MerTK （main effector receptor), and overexpression of “do not eat me” signals (brake signals, such as CD47), collectively lead to the impediment of efferocytosis in the post‐MI/R heart. To date, therapeutic strategies targeting individual above obstacles are relatively lacking, let alone their effectiveness being limited due to constraints from the other concurrent two. Herein, inspired by the application research of chimeric antigen receptor macrophages (CAR‐Ms) in solid tumors, a genetically modified macrophage‐based synergistic drug delivery strategy that effectively challenging the three major barriers in an integrated manner is developed. This strategy involves the overexpression of exogenous macrophages with CCR2 (C‐C chemokine receptor type 2) and cleavage‐resistant MerTK, as well as surface clicking with liposomal PEP‐20 (a CD47 antagonist). In MI/R mice model, this synergistic strategy can effectively restore cardiac efferocytosis after intravenous injection, thereby alleviating the inflammatory response, ultimately preserving cardiac function. This therapy focuses on inhibiting the initiation and promoting active resolution of inflammation, providing new insights for immune‐regulatory therapy.

01 Nov 2022·Biomaterials

Oxygen-boosted biomimetic nanoplatform for synergetic phototherapy/ferroptosis activation and reversal of immune-suppressed tumor microenvironment

Article

Author: Zhai, Guangxi ; Liu, Shangui ; Yang, Xiaoye ; Du, Xiyou ; He, Zhijing ; Zhou, He ; Ji, Jianbo ; Zhang, Yu

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) induces apoptosis of cancer cells by generating cytotoxic reactive oxygen species, the therapeutic effect of which, however, is impeded by intrinsic/inducible apoptosis-resistant mechanisms in cancer cells and hypoxia of tumor microenvironment (TME); also, PDT-induced anti-tumor immunity activation is insufficient. To deal with these obstacles, a novel biomimetic nanoplatform is fabricated for the precise delivery of photosensitizer chlorin e6 (Ce6), hemin and PEP20 (CD47 inhibitory peptide), integrating oxygen-boosted PDT, ferroptosis activation and CD47-SIRPα blockade. Hemin's catalase-mimetic activity alleviates TME hypoxia and enhances PDT. The nanoplatform activates ferroptosis via both classical (down-regulating glutathione peroxidase 4 pathway) and non-classical (inducing Fe²⁺ overload) modes. Besides the role of hemin in consuming glutathione and up-regulating heme oxygenase-1 expression, interestingly, we observe that Ce6 enhance ferroptosis activation via both classical and non-classical modes. The anti-cancer immunity is reinforced by combining PEP20-mediated CD47-SIRPα blockade and PDT-mediated T cell activation, efficiently suppressing primary tumor growth and metastasis. PEP20 has been revealed for the first time to sensitize ferroptosis by down-regulating system Xc^-. This work sheds new light on the mechanisms of PDT-ferroptosis activation interplay and bridges immunotherapy and ferroptosis activation, laying the theoretical foundation for novel combinational modes of cancer treatment.

01 Oct 2020·Journal for ImmunoTherapy of CancerQ2 · MEDICINE

CD47/SIRPα blocking peptide identification and synergistic effect with irradiation for cancer immunotherapy

Q2 · MEDICINE

ArticleOA

Author: Qi, Yuanming ; Chen, Chunxia ; Gao, Yanfeng ; Wang, Hongfei ; Gou, Shanshan ; Chen, Guanyu ; Du, Jiangfeng ; Zhai, Wenjie ; Zhou, Xiuman ; Li, Yanying ; Li, Wanqiong ; Jiao, Ling ; Wu, Yahong ; Sun, Yixuan

BackgroundImmunotherapy has achieved remarkable advances via a variety of strategies against tumor cells that evade immune surveillance. As important innate immune cells, macrophages play important roles in maintaining homeostasis, preventing pathogen invasion, resisting tumor cells and promoting adaptive immune response. CD47 is found to be overexpressed on tumor cells and act as a don’t eat me’ signal, which contributes to immune evasion. Macrophages mediated phagocytosis via blockade CD47/SIRPα (signal regulatory protein alpha) interaction was proved to induce effective antitumor immune response.MethodsA novel peptide pep-20, specifically targeting CD47 and blocking CD47/SIRPα interaction, was identified via high-throughput phage display library bio-panning. The capability to enhance the macrophage-mediated phagocytosis activities and antitumor effects of pep-20 were investigated. The mechanism of pep-20 to induce T-cell response was explored by ex vivo analysis and confirmed via macrophage depleting strategy. The structure-activity relationship and D-amino acid substitution of pep-20 were also studied. The antitumor effects and mechanism of a proteolysis resistant D-amino acid derivate pep-20-D12 combined with irradiation (IR) were also investigated.ResultsPep-20 showed remarkable enhancement of macrophage-mediated phagocytosis to both solid and hematologic tumor cells in vitro, and inhibited tumor growth in immune-competent tumor-bearing mice. Furthermore, pep-20 promoted macrophages to mobilize the antitumor T-cell response with minimal toxicity. Furthermore, systemic administration of the derivate pep-20-D12 showed robust synergistic antitumor efficacy in combination with IR.ConclusionIn summary, these results demonstrated that CD47/SIRPα blocking peptides, pep-20 and its derivate, could serve as promising candidates to promote macrophages-mediated phagocytosis and immune response in cancer immunotherapy.

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