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Choi Y, Seok SH, Yoon HY, Ryu JH, Kwon IC. Advancing cancer immunotherapy through siRNA-based gene silencing for immune checkpoint blockade. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 2024; 209:115306. [PMID: 38626859 DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2024.115306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Revised: 04/01/2024] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 05/23/2024]
Abstract
Cancer immunotherapy represents a revolutionary strategy, leveraging the patient's immune system to inhibit tumor growth and alleviate the immunosuppressive effects of the tumor microenvironment (TME). The recent emergence of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapies, particularly following the first approval of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) inhibitors like ipilimumab, has led to significant growth in cancer immunotherapy. The extensive explorations on diverse immune checkpoint antibodies have broadened the therapeutic scope for various malignancies. However, the clinical response to these antibody-based ICB therapies remains limited, with less than 15% responsiveness and notable adverse effects in some patients. This review introduces the emerging strategies to overcome current limitations of antibody-based ICB therapies, mainly focusing on the development of small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA)-based ICB therapies and innovative delivery systems. We firstly highlight the diverse target immune checkpoint genes for siRNA-based ICB therapies, incorporating silencing of multiple genes to boost anti-tumor immune responses. Subsequently, we discuss improvements in siRNA delivery systems, enhanced by various nanocarriers, aimed at overcoming siRNA's clinical challenges such as vulnerability to enzymatic degradation, inadequate pharmacokinetics, and possible unintended target interactions. Additionally, the review presents various combination therapies that integrate chemotherapy, phototherapy, stimulatory checkpoints, ICB antibodies, and cancer vaccines. The important point is that when used in combination with siRNA-based ICB therapy, the synergistic effect of traditional therapies is strengthened, improving host immune surveillance and therapeutic outcomes. Conclusively, we discuss the insights into innovative and effective cancer immunotherapeutic strategies based on RNA interference (RNAi) technology utilizing siRNA and nanocarriers as a novel approach in ICB cancer immunotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Youngjin Choi
- Medicinal Materials Research Center, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
| | - Su Hyun Seok
- Medicinal Materials Research Center, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
| | - Hong Yeol Yoon
- Medicinal Materials Research Center, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea; Division of Bio-Medical Science &Technology, KIST School, University of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
| | - Ju Hee Ryu
- Medicinal Materials Research Center, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea.
| | - Ick Chan Kwon
- Medicinal Materials Research Center, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea; KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea.
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Pan S, Cai Q, Wei Y, Tang H, Zhang Y, Zhou W, Deng T, Mo W, Wang S, Wang C, Chen C. Increased co-expression of ICOS and PD-1 predicts poor overall survival in patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Immunobiology 2024; 229:152804. [PMID: 38615511 DOI: 10.1016/j.imbio.2024.152804] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2024] [Revised: 04/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Inducible co-stimulatory factor (ICOS) has a dual role: activating cytotoxic T cells against tumors or exacerbating immunosuppression of regulatory T cells (Tregs) to participate in immune evasion. However, the correlation between ICOS and its co-expression with inhibitory immune checkpoints (IICs) and prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is little known. METHODS The prognostic importance of ICOS and IICs in 62 bone marrow (BM) samples of de novo AML patients from our clinical center (GZFPH) was explored and then the RNA sequencing data of 155 AML patients from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database was used for validation. RESULTS In both GZFPH and TCGA cohorts, high expression of ICOS was significantly associated with poor overall survival (OS) in patients with AML (P < 0.05). Importantly, co-expression of ICOS and PD-1, PD-L1, PD-L2, CTLA-4, and LAG-3 predicted poor OS in AML; among them, ICOS/PD-1 was the optimal combination of immune checkpoints (ICs). The co-expression of ICOS and PD-1 was correlated with poor OS in non-acute promyelocytic leukemia (non-APL) patients following chemotherapy. Additionally, ICOS/PD-1 was an independent OS-predicting factor (P < 0.05). Notably, a nomogram model was constructed by combining ICOS/PD-1, age, European Leukemia Net (ELN) risk stratification, and therapy to visually and personalized predict the 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS of patients with non-APL. CONCLUSION Increased expression of ICOS predicted poor outcomes, and ICOS/PD-1 was the optimal combination of ICs to predict outcomes in patients with AML, which might be a potential immune biomarker for designing novel AML therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shiyi Pan
- Department of Hematology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510180, China
| | - Qinghua Cai
- Department of Hematology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510180, China
| | - Yiqiong Wei
- Department of Neurology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510180, China
| | - Haifeng Tang
- Department of Surgery, The Third School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 516006, China
| | - Yuping Zhang
- Department of Hematology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510180, China
| | - Wei Zhou
- Department of Hematology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510180, China
| | - Tingfen Deng
- Department of Hematology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510180, China
| | - Wenjian Mo
- Department of Hematology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510180, China
| | - Shunqing Wang
- Department of Hematology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510180, China.
| | - Caixia Wang
- Department of Hematology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510180, China.
| | - Cunte Chen
- Department of Hematology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510180, China.
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Maeki M, Uno S, Sugiura K, Sato Y, Fujioka Y, Ishida A, Ohba Y, Harashima H, Tokeshi M. Development of Polymer-Lipid Hybrid Nanoparticles for Large-Sized Plasmid DNA Transfection. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2024; 16:2110-2119. [PMID: 38141015 PMCID: PMC10798250 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c14714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Revised: 12/05/2023] [Accepted: 12/06/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023]
Abstract
RNA and DNA delivery technologies using lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have advanced significantly, as demonstrated by their successful application in mRNA vaccines. To date, commercially available RNA therapeutics include Onpattro, a 21 bp siRNA, and mRNA vaccines comprising 4300 nucleotides for COVID-19. However, a significant challenge remains in achieving efficient transfection, as the size of the delivered RNA and DNA increases. In contrast to RNA transfection, plasmid DNA (pDNA) transfection requires multiple steps, including cellular uptake, endosomal escape, nuclear translocation, transcription, and translation. The low transfection efficiency of large pDNA is a critical limitation in the development of artificial cells and their cellular functionalization. Here, we introduce polymer-lipid hybrid nanoparticles designed for efficient, large-sized pDNA transfection. We demonstrated that LNPs loaded with positively charged pDNA-polycation core nanoparticles exhibited a 4-fold increase in transfection efficiency for 15 kbp pDNA compared with conventional LNPs, which encapsulate a negatively charged pDNA-polycation core. Based on assessments of the size and internal structure of the polymer-lipid nanoparticles as well as hemolysis and cellular uptake analysis, we propose a strategy to enhance large-sized pDNA transfection using LNPs. This approach holds promise for accelerating the in vivo delivery of large-sized pDNA and advancing the development of artificial cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masatoshi Maeki
- Division
of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13 Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan
- JST
PRESTO, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan
- Institute
of Materials Structure Science, High Energy
Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801, Japan
| | - Shuya Uno
- Graduate
School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13 Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan
| | - Kaisei Sugiura
- Graduate
School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13 Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan
| | - Yusuke Sato
- Faculty
of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hokkaido University, Kita 12 Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan
| | - Yoichiro Fujioka
- Department
of Cell Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 15 Nishi 7, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan
| | - Akihiko Ishida
- Division
of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13 Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan
| | - Yusuke Ohba
- Department
of Cell Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 15 Nishi 7, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan
| | - Hideyoshi Harashima
- Graduate
School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13 Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan
| | - Manabu Tokeshi
- JST
PRESTO, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan
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Torki E, Gharezade A, Doroudchi M, Sheikhi S, Mansury D, Sullman MJM, Fouladseresht H. The kinetics of inhibitory immune checkpoints during and post-COVID-19: the knowns and unknowns. Clin Exp Med 2023; 23:3299-3319. [PMID: 37697158 DOI: 10.1007/s10238-023-01188-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2023] [Accepted: 08/31/2023] [Indexed: 09/13/2023]
Abstract
The immune system is tightly regulated to prevent immune reactions to self-antigens and to avoid excessive immune responses during and after challenges from non-self-antigens. Inhibitory immune checkpoints (IICPs), as the major regulators of immune system responses, are extremely important for maintaining the homeostasis of cells and tissues. However, the high and sustained co-expression of IICPs in chronic infections, under persistent antigenic stimulations, results in reduced immune cell functioning and more severe and prolonged disease complications. Furthermore, IICPs-mediated interactions can be hijacked by pathogens in order to evade immune induction or effector mechanisms. Therefore, IICPs can be potential targets for the prognosis and treatment of chronic infectious diseases. This is especially the case with regards to the most challenging infectious disease of recent times, coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), whose long-term complications can persist long after recovery. This article reviews the current knowledge about the kinetics and functioning of the IICPs during and post-COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ensiye Torki
- Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
| | - Arezou Gharezade
- Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
| | - Mehrnoosh Doroudchi
- Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Shima Sheikhi
- Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
| | - Davood Mansury
- Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
| | - Mark J M Sullman
- Department of Life and Health Sciences, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus
- Department of Social Sciences, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Hamed Fouladseresht
- Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
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Hu X, Zhu H, He X, Chen J, Xiong L, Shen Y, Li J, Xu Y, Chen W, Liu X, Cao D, Xu X. The application of nanoparticles in immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma. J Control Release 2023; 355:85-108. [PMID: 36708880 DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2023.01.051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2022] [Revised: 01/17/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide, however, current clinical diagnostic and treatment approaches remain relatively limited, creating an urgent need for the development of effective technologies. Immunotherapy has emerged as a powerful treatment strategy for advanced cancer. The number of clinically approved drugs for HCC immunotherapy has been increasing. However, it remains challenging to improve their transport and therapeutic efficiency, control their targeting and release, and mitigate their adverse effects. Nanotechnology has recently gained attention for improving the effectiveness of precision therapy for HCC. We summarize the key features of HCC associated with nanoparticle (NPs) targeting, release, and uptake, the roles and limitations of several major immunotherapies in HCC, the use of NPs in immunotherapy, the properties of NPs that influence their design and application, and current clinical trials of NPs in HCC, with the aim of informing the design of delivery platforms that have the potential to improve the safety and efficacy of HCC immunotherapy,and thus, ultimately improve the prognosis of HCC patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinyao Hu
- Cancer center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China
| | - Hua Zhu
- Department of Neurosurgery, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China
| | - Xiaoqin He
- Cancer center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China
| | - Jiayu Chen
- Cancer center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China
| | - Lin Xiong
- Cancer center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China
| | - Yang Shen
- Cancer center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China
| | - Jiayi Li
- Cancer center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China
| | - Yangtao Xu
- Cancer center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China
| | - Wenliang Chen
- Cancer center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China
| | - Xin Liu
- Cancer center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China
| | - Dedong Cao
- Cancer center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China.
| | - Ximing Xu
- Cancer center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China.
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Gupta M, Chandan K, Sarwat M. Natural Products and their Derivatives as Immune Check Point Inhibitors: Targeting Cytokine/Chemokine Signalling in Cancer. Semin Cancer Biol 2022; 86:214-232. [PMID: 35772610 DOI: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2022.06.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2022] [Revised: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 06/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Cancer immunotherapy is the new generation and widely accepted form of tumour treatment. It is, however, associated with exclusive challenges which include organ-specific inflammation, and single-target strategies. Therefore, approaches that can enhance the efficiency of existing immunotherapies and expand their indications are required for the further development of immunotherapy. Natural products and medicines are stated to have this desired effect on cancer immunotherapy (adoptive immune-cells therapy, cancer vaccines, and immune-check point inhibitors). They refurbish the immunosuppressed tumour microenvironment, which is the primary location of interaction of tumour cells with the host immune system. Various immune cell subsets, via interaction with cytokine/chemokine receptors, are recruited into this microenvironment, and these subsets have roles in tumour progression and treatment responsiveness. This review summarises cytokine/chemokine signalling, types of cancer immunotherapy and the herbal medicine-derived natural products targeting cytokine/chemokines and immune checkpoints. These natural compounds possess immunomodulatory activities and exert their anti-tumour effect by either blocking the interaction or modulating the expression of the proteins linked with immune checkpoint signaling pathways. Some compounds also show a synergistic effect in combination with existing monoclonal antibody drugs to reverse the tumour microenvironment. Additionally, we have also reported some studies about the derivatives and formulations used to overcome the limitations of natural forms. This review can provide important insights for directing future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meenakshi Gupta
- Amity Institute of Pharmacy, Amity University, Noida-201313, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Kumari Chandan
- Amity Institute of Pharmacy, Amity University, Noida-201313, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Maryam Sarwat
- Amity Institute of Pharmacy, Amity University, Noida-201313, Uttar Pradesh, India.
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