Genetically engineered nanomodulators elicit potent immunity against cancer stem cells by checkpoint blockade and hypoxia relief.

Pan, Yuanwei; Yu, Ling; Liu, Lujie; Zhang, Jing; Liang, Shuang; Parshad, Badri; Lai, Jialin; Ma, Li-Min et al. · Bioact Mater · 2024

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Rapid development of checkpoint inhibitors has provided significant breakthroughs for cancer stem cell (CSC) therapy, while the therapeutic efficacy is restricted by hypoxia-mediated tumor immune evasion, especially hypoxia-induced CD47 overexpression in CSCs. Herein, we developed a genetically engineered CSC membrane-coated hollow manganese dioxide (hMnO<sub>2</sub>@gCMs) to elicit robust antitumor immunity by blocking CD47 and alleviating hypoxia to ultimately achieve the eradication of CSCs. The hMnO<sub>2</sub> core effectively alleviated tumor hypoxia by inducing decomposition of tumor endogenous H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>, thus suppressing the CSCs and reducing the expression of CD47. Cooperating with hypoxia relief-induced downregulation of CD47, the overexpressed SIRPα on gCM shell efficiently blocked the CD47-SIRPα "don't eat me" pathway, synergistically eliciting robust antitumor-mediated immune responses. In a B16F10-CSC bearing melanoma mouse model, the hMnO<sub>2</sub>@gCMs showed an enhanced therapeutic effect in eradicating CSCs and inhibiting tumor growth. Our work presents a simple, safe, and robust platform for CSC eradication and cancer immunotherapy.