Cytokine conjugation to enhance T cell therapy

Advanced micro/nano-electroporation for gene therapy: recent advances and future outlook

Gene therapy is a promising disease treatment approach by editing target genes, and thus plays a fundamental role in precision medicine. To ensure gene therapy efficacy, the effective delivery of therapeutic genes into specific cells is a key challenge. Electroporation utilizes short electric pulses to physically break the cell membrane barrier, allowing gene transfer into the cells. It dodges the off-target risks associated with viral vectors, and also stands out from other physical-based gene delivery methods with its high-throughput and cargo-accelerating features. In recent years, with the help of advanced micro/nanotechnology, micro/nanostructure-integrated electroporation (micro/nano-electroporation) techniques and devices have significantly improved cell viability, transfection efficiency and dose controllability of the electroporation strategy, enhancing its application practicality especially in vivo. This technical advancement makes micro/nano-electroporation an effective and versatile tool for gene therapy. In this review, we first introduce the evolution of electroporation technique with a brief explanation of the perforation mechanism, and then provide an overview of the recent advancements and prospects of micro/nano-electroporation technology in the field of gene therapy. To comprehensively showcase the latest developments of micro/nano-electroporation technology in gene therapy, we focus on discussing micro/nano-electroporation devices and current applications at both in vitro and in vivo levels. Additionally, we outline the ongoing clinical studies of gene electrotransfer (GET), revealing the tremendous potential of electroporation-based gene delivery in disease treatment and healthcare. Lastly, the challenges and future directions in this field are discussed.

Lyophilized lymph nodes for improved delivery of chimeric antigen receptor T cells

Lymph nodes are crucial organs of the adaptive immune system, orchestrating T cell priming, activation and tolerance. T cell activity and function are highly regulated by lymph nodes, which have a unique structure harbouring distinct cells that work together to detect and respond to pathogen-derived antigens. Here we show that implanted patient-derived freeze-dried lymph nodes loaded with chimeric antigen receptor T cells improve delivery to solid tumours and inhibit tumour recurrence after surgery. Chimeric antigen receptor T cells can be effectively loaded into lyophilized lymph nodes, whose unaltered meshwork and cytokine and chemokine contents promote chimeric antigen receptor T cell viability and activation. In mouse models of cell-line-derived human cervical cancer and patient-derived pancreatic cancer, delivery of chimeric antigen receptor T cells targeting mesothelin via the freeze-dried lymph nodes is more effective in preventing tumour recurrence when compared to hydrogels containing T-cell-supporting cytokines. This tissue-mediated cell delivery strategy holds promise for controlled release of various cells and therapeutics with long-term activity and augmented function.

Advances in nano-immunotherapy for hematological malignancies

Hematological malignancies (HMs) encompass a diverse group of blood neoplasms with significant morbidity and mortality. Immunotherapy has emerged as a validated and crucial treatment modality for patients with HMs. Despite notable advancements having been made in understanding and implementing immunotherapy for HMs over the past decade, several challenges persist. These challenges include immune-related adverse effects, the precise biodistribution and elimination of therapeutic antigens in vivo, immune tolerance of tumors, and immune evasion by tumor cells within the tumor microenvironment (TME). Nanotechnology, with its capacity to manipulate material properties at the nanometer scale, has the potential to tackle these obstacles and revolutionize treatment outcomes by improving various aspects such as drug targeting and stability. The convergence of nanotechnology and immunotherapy has given rise to nano-immunotherapy, a specialized branch of anti-tumor therapy. Nanotechnology has found applications in chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy, cancer vaccines, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and other immunotherapeutic strategies for HMs. In this review, we delineate recent developments and discuss current challenges in the field of nano-immunotherapy for HMs, offering novel insights into the potential of nanotechnology-based therapeutic approaches for these diseases.

Cell-mediated nanoparticle delivery systems: towards precision nanomedicine

Cell-mediated nanoparticle delivery systems (CMNDDs) utilize cells as carriers to deliver the drug-loaded nanoparticles. Unlike the traditional nanoparticle drug delivery approaches, CMNDDs take the advantages of cell characteristics, such as the homing capabilities of stem cells, inflammatory chemotaxis of neutrophils, prolonged blood circulation of red blood cells, and internalization of macrophages. Subsequently, CMNDDs can easily prolong the blood circulation, cross biological barriers, such as the blood-brain barrier and the bone marrow-blood barrier, and rapidly arrive at the diseased areas. Such advantageous properties make CMNDDs promising delivery candidates for precision targeting. In this review, we summarize the recent advances in CMNDDs fabrication and biomedical applications. Specifically, ligand-receptor interactions, non-covalent interactions, covalent interactions, and internalization are commonly applied in constructing CMNDDs in vitro. By hitchhiking cells, such as macrophages, red blood cells, monocytes, neutrophils, and platelets, nanoparticles can be internalized or attached to cells to construct CMNDDs in vivo. Then we highlight the recent application of CMNDDs in treating different diseases, such as cancer, central nervous system disorders, lung diseases, and cardiovascular diseases, with a brief discussion about challenges and future perspectives in the end.

Advancements in Stimulus-Responsive Co-Delivery Nanocarriers for Enhanced Cancer Immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy has emerged as a novel therapeutic approach against tumors, with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) making significant clinical practice. The traditional ICIs, PD-1 and PD-L1, augment the cytotoxic function of T cells through the inhibition of tumor immune evasion pathways, ultimately leading to the initiation of an antitumor immune response. However, the clinical implementation of ICIs encounters obstacles stemming from the existence of an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and inadequate infiltration of CD8+T cells. Considerable attention has been directed towards advancing immunogenic cell death (ICD) as a potential solution to counteract tumor cell infiltration and the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. This approach holds promise in transforming "cold" tumors into "hot" tumors that exhibit responsiveness to antitumor. By combining ICD with ICIs, a synergistic immune response against tumors can be achieved. However, the combination of ICD inducers and PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors is hindered by issues such as poor targeting and uncontrolled drug release. An advantageous solution presented by stimulus-responsive nanocarrier is integrating the physicochemical properties of ICD inducers and PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, facilitating precise delivery to specific tissues for optimal combination therapy. Moreover, these nanocarriers leverage the distinct features of the tumor microenvironment to accomplish controlled drug release and regulate the kinetics of drug delivery. This article aims to investigate the advancement of stimulus-responsive co-delivery nanocarriers utilizing ICD and PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. Special focus is dedicated to exploring the advantages and recent advancements of this system in enabling the combination of ICIs and ICD inducers. The molecular mechanisms of ICD and ICIs are concisely summarized. In conclusion, we examine the potential research prospects and challenges that could greatly enhance immunotherapeutic approaches for cancer treatment.

DNA Damage-driven Inflammatory Cytokines: Reprogramming of Tumor Immune Microenvironment and Application of Oncotherapy

DNA damage occurs across tumorigenesis and tumor development. Tumor intrinsic DNA damage can not only increase the risk of mutations responsible for tumor generation but also initiate a cellular stress response to orchestrate the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) and dominate tumor progression. Accumulating evidence documents that multiple signaling pathways, including cyclic GMP-AMP synthase-stimulator of interferon genes (cGAS-STING) and ataxia telangiectasia-mutated protein/ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related protein (ATM/ATR), are activated downstream of DNA damage and they are associated with the secretion of diverse cytokines. These cytokines possess multifaced functions in the anti-tumor immune response. Thus, it is necessary to deeply interpret the complex TIME reshaped by damaged DNA and tumor-derived cytokines, critical for the development of effective tumor therapies. This manuscript comprehensively reviews the relationship between the DNA damage response and related cytokines in tumors and depicts the dual immunoregulatory roles of these cytokines. We also summarize clinical trials targeting signaling pathways and cytokines associated with DNA damage and provide future perspectives on emerging technologies.

Bioinformatics identification of potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for ischemic stroke and vascular dementia

Ischemic stroke and vascular dementia, as common cerebrovascular diseases, with the former causing irreversible neurological damage and the latter causing cognitive and memory impairment, are closely related and have long received widespread attention. Currently, the potential causative genes of these two diseases have yet to be investigated, and effective early diagnostic tools for the diseases have not yet emerged. In this study, we screened new potential biomarkers and analyzed new therapeutic targets for both diseases from the perspective of immune infiltration. Two gene expression profiles on ischemic stroke and vascular dementia were obtained from the NCBI GEO database, and key genes were identified by LASSO regression and SVM-RFE algorithms, and key genes were analyzed by GO and KEGG enrichment. The CIBERSORT algorithm was applied to the gene expression profile species of the two diseases to quantify the 24 subpopulations of immune cells. Moreover, logistic regression modeling analysis was applied to illustrate the stability of the key genes in the diagnosis. Finally, the key genes were validated using RT-PCR assay. A total of 105 intersecting DEGs genes were obtained in the 2 sets of GEO datasets, and bioinformatics functional analysis of the intersecting DEGs genes showed that GO was mainly involved in the purine ribonucleoside triphosphate metabolic process，respiratory chain complex，DNA-binding transcription factor binding and active transmembrane transporter activity. KEGG is mainly involved in the Oxidative phosphorylation, cAMP signaling pathway. The LASSO regression algorithm and SVM-RFE algorithm finally obtained three genes, GAS2L1, ARHGEF40 and PFKFB3, and the logistic regression prediction model determined that the three genes, GAS2L1 (AUC: 0.882), ARHGEF40 (AUC: 0.867) and PFKFB3 (AUC: 0.869), had good diagnostic performance. Meanwhile, the two disease core genes and immune infiltration were closely related, GAS2L1 and PFKFB3 had the highest positive correlation with macrophage M1 (p < 0.001) and the highest negative correlation with mast cell activation (p = 0.0017); ARHGEF40 had the highest positive correlation with macrophage M1 and B cells naive (p < 0.001), the highest negative correlation with B cell memory highest correlation (p = 0.0047). RT-PCR results showed that the relative mRNA expression levels of GAS2L1, ARHGEF40, and PFKFB3 were significantly elevated in the populations of both disease groups (p < 0.05). Immune infiltration-based models can be used to predict the diagnosis of patients with ischemic stroke and vascular dementia and provide a new perspective on the early diagnosis and treatment of both diseases.

Deciphering single-cell protein secretion and gene expressions by constructing cell-antibody conjugates

Secreted proteins play critical roles in regulating immune responses, exerting cytotoxic effects on tumor cells, promoting inflammatory processes, and influencing cellular metabolism. Deciphering the intricate relationship between the heterogeneity of secreted proteins and their transcriptional states is pivotal in the study of cellular heterogeneity. Here we proposed a cell-antibody conjugate-based sequencing methodology (Cellab-seq) for joint characterization of secreted proteins and transcriptome. Cellab-seq utilizes a chemoenzymatic strategy to construct cell-antibody conjugates, which enables the capture of secreted proteins and their signal transduction with the incorporation of barcode detection antibodies. We applied Cellab-seq to investigate how gene expression influences the activity of secreted proteins in NK cells. Altogether, this strategy facilitates a nuanced understanding of cellular dynamics under diverse physiological conditions, ultimately contributing to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

The intrinsic defects of T cells impact the efficacy of CAR-T therapy in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

CAR-T cell therapy did not achieve the desired efficacy in some patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). We conducted single-cell RNA and TCR sequencing as well as methylation chip profiling of peripheral blood samples in DLBCL patients. Patients who achieved complete remission (CR) showed an upward trend in T-cell levels, especially CD8-effector T cells. The responders exhibited T-cell clone expansion, more active T-cell transformation, and frequent cell communication. Highly expressed genes in the CR group were enriched in functions like leukocyte-mediated cytotoxicity and activation of immune response, while the non-CR group was enriched in pathways related to DNA damage and P53-mediated intrinsic apoptotic. More differentially methylated probes (DMPs) were identified in the baseline of the non-CR group (779 vs 350). GSEA analysis revealed that the genes annotated by DMPs were associated with cellular immune functions in T cells, including the generation of chemokines, leukocyte-mediated cytotoxicity, and cell-killing functions. The genes with low expression in the non-CR group exhibited a high methylation status. There is heterogeneity in the cellular, molecular, and epigenetic characteristics of host T cells in patients with different clinical outcomes. Intrinsic defects in T cells are important factors leading to poor efficacy of CAR-T therapy.

CAR-T cell therapy for hematological malignancies: History, status and promise

For many years, the methods of cancer treatment are usually surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Although these methods help to improve the condition, most tumors still have a poor prognosis. In recent years, immunotherapy has great potential in tumor treatment. Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell immunotherapy (CAR-T) uses the patient's own T cells to express chimeric antigen receptors. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) recognizes tumor-associated antigens and kills tumor cells. CAR-T has achieved good results in the treatment of hematological tumors. In 2017, the FDA approved the first CAR-T for the treatment of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In October of the same year, the FDA approved CAR-T to treat B-cell lymphoma. In order to improve and enhance the therapeutic effect, CAR-T has become a research focus in recent years. The structure of CAR, the targets of CAR-T treatment, adverse reactions and improvement measures during the treatment process are summarized. This review is an attempt to highlight recent and possibly forgotten findings of advances in chimeric antigen receptor T cell for treatment of hematological tumors.

Glycopolymers With On/Off Anchors: Confinement Effect on Regulating Dendritic Cells

Insufficient activation or over-activation of T cells due to the dendritic cells (DCs) state can cause negative effects on immunotherapy, making it crucial for DCs to maintain different states in different treatments. Polysaccharides are one of the most studied substances to promote DCs maturation. However, in many methods, optimizing the spatial dimension of the interaction between polysaccharides and cells is often overlooked. Therefore, in this study, a new strategy from the perspective of spatial dimension is proposed to regulate the efficacy of polysaccharides in promoting DCs maturation. An anchoring molecule (DMA) is introduced to existing glycopolymers for the confinement effect, and the effect can be turned off by oxidation of DMA. Among the prepared on-confined (PMD2 ), off-confined (PMD2 -O), and norm (PM2 ) glycopolymers, PMD2 and PMD2 -O show the best and worst results, respectively, in terms of the amount of binding to DCs and the effect on promoting DCs maturation. This sufficiently shows that the turn-on and off of confinement effect can regulate the maturation of DCs by polysaccharides. Based on the all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, the mechanism of difference in the confinement effect is explained. This simple method can also be used to regulate other molecule-cell interactions to guide cell behavior.

T Cell Development and Function

T cells play critical roles in the immune system, including in responses to cancer, autoimmunity, and tissue regeneration. T cells arise from common lymphoid progenitors (CLPs) that differentiate from hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow. CLPs then traffic to the thymus, where they undergo thymopoiesis through a number of selection steps, resulting in mature single positive naive CD4 helper or CD8 cytotoxic T cells. Naive T cells are home to secondary lymphoid organs like lymph nodes and are primed by antigen-presenting cells, which scavenge for both foreign and self-antigens. Effector T cell function is multifaceted, including direct target cell lysis and secretion of cytokines, which regulate the functions of other immune cells (refer to "Graphical Abstract"). This review will discuss T cell development and function, from the development of lymphoid progenitors in the bone marrow to principles that govern T cell effector function and dysfunction, specifically within the context of cancer.

Development and application of nanomaterials, nanotechnology and nanomedicine for treating hematological malignancies

Hematologic malignancies (HMs) pose a serious threat to patients' health and life, and the five-year overall survival of HMs remains low. The lack of understanding of the pathogenesis and the complex clinical symptoms brings immense challenges to the diagnosis and treatment of HMs. Traditional therapeutic strategies for HMs include radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Although immunotherapy and cell therapy have made considerable progress in the last decade, nearly half of patients still relapse or suffer from drug resistance. Recently, studies have emerged that nanomaterials, nanotechnology and nanomedicine show great promise in cancer therapy by enhancing drug targeting, reducing toxicity and side effects and boosting the immune response to promote durable immunological memory. In this review, we summarized the strategies of recently developed nanomaterials, nanotechnology and nanomedicines against HMs and then proposed emerging strategies for the future designment of nanomedicines to treat HMs based on urgent clinical needs and technological progress.

Role and Potential of Different T Helper Cell Subsets in Adoptive Cell Therapy

Historically, CD8⁺ T cells have been considered the most relevant effector cells involved in the immune response against tumors and have therefore been the focus of most cancer immunotherapy approaches. However, CD4⁺ T cells and their secreted factors also play a crucial role in the tumor microenvironment and can orchestrate both pro- and antitumoral immune responses. Depending on the cytokine milieu to which they are exposed, CD4⁺ T cells can differentiate into several phenotypically different subsets with very divergent effects on tumor progression. In this review, we provide an overview of the current knowledge about the role of the different T helper subsets in the immune system, with special emphasis on their implication in antitumoral immune responses. Furthermore, we also summarize therapeutic applications of each subset and its associated cytokines in the adoptive cell therapy of cancer.