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Hlushko R, Pozharski E, Prabhu VM, Andrianov AK. Directly visualizing individual polyorganophosphazenes and their single-chain complexes with proteins. COMMUNICATIONS MATERIALS 2024; 5:36. [PMID: 38817739 PMCID: PMC11139433 DOI: 10.1038/s43246-024-00476-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024]
Abstract
Polyorganophosphazenes are water-soluble macromolecules with immunoadjuvant activity that self-assemble with proteins to enable biological functionality. Direct imaging by cryogenic electron microscopy uncovers the coil structure of those highly charged macromolecules. The successful visualization of individual polymer chains within the vitrified state is achieved in the absence of additives for contrast enhancement and is attributed to the high mass contrast of the inorganic backbone. Upon assembly with proteins, multiple protein copies bind at the single polymer chain level resulting in structures reminiscent of compact spherical complexes or stiffened coils. The outcome depends on protein characteristics and cannot be deduced by commonly used characterization techniques, such as light scattering, thus revealing direct morphological insights crucial for understanding biological activity. Atomic force microscopy supports the morphology outcomes while advanced analytical techniques confirm protein-polymer binding. The chain visualization methodology provides tools for gaining insights into the processes of supramolecular assembly and mechanistic aspects of polymer enabled vaccine delivery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raman Hlushko
- Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research, University of Maryland, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States of America
| | - Edwin Pozharski
- Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research, University of Maryland, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States of America
| | - Vivek M. Prabhu
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, Material Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology‡, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States of America
| | - Alexander K. Andrianov
- Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research, University of Maryland, Rockville, Maryland 20850, United States of America
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Bhatta R, Han J, Liu Y, Bo Y, Lee D, Zhou J, Wang Y, Nelson ER, Chen Q, Zhang XS, Hassaneen W, Wang H. Metabolic tagging of extracellular vesicles and development of enhanced extracellular vesicle based cancer vaccines. Nat Commun 2023; 14:8047. [PMID: 38052869 PMCID: PMC10697976 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43914-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/23/2023] [Indexed: 12/07/2023] Open
Abstract
As key mediators of cellular communication, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been actively explored for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. However, effective methods to functionalize EVs and modulate the interaction between EVs and recipient cells are still lacking. Here we report a facile and universal metabolic tagging technology that can install unique chemical tags (e.g., azido groups) onto EVs. The surface chemical tags enable conjugation of molecules via efficient click chemistry, for the tracking and targeted modulation of EVs. In the context of tumor EV vaccines, we show that the conjugation of toll-like receptor 9 agonists onto EVs enables timely activation of dendritic cells and generation of superior antitumor CD8+ T cell response. These lead to 80% tumor-free survival against E.G7 lymphoma and 33% tumor-free survival against B16F10 melanoma. Our study yields a universal technology to generate chemically tagged EVs from parent cells, modulate EV-cell interactions, and develop potent EV vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rimsha Bhatta
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Joonsu Han
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Yusheng Liu
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Yang Bo
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - David Lee
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Jiadiao Zhou
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Yueji Wang
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
- Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Erik Russell Nelson
- Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL), Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
- Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
- Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-, Champaign, IL, USA
| | - Qian Chen
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Xiaojia Shelly Zhang
- Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
- National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Wael Hassaneen
- Carle College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
- Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Hua Wang
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
- Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL), Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
- Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
- Carle College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
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Andrianov A, Hlushko R, Pozharski E, Prabhu V. Cryo-EM and AFM visualize linear polyorganophosphazene: individual chains and single-chain assemblies with proteins. RESEARCH SQUARE 2023:rs.3.rs-3411603. [PMID: 37961436 PMCID: PMC10635375 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3411603/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
Polyorganophosphazenes are biodegradable macromolecules with potent immunoadjuvant activity that self-assemble with protein antigens to provide biological activity. Direct imaging by cryogenic electron microscopy reveals the coil structure of the highly-charged high molecular mass synthetic polyorganophosphazenes within the vitrified state without any additives for contrast enhancement for the first time. Upon mixing with protein antigens under a controlled stoichiometric ratio, multiple proteins bind at the single chain level revealing a structural change reminiscent of compact spherical complexes or stiffened coils depending on the bound protein antigen. The structural outcome depends on the protein charge density that cannot be deduced by methods, such as dynamic light scattering, thus revealing direct morphological insight necessary to understand in vivo biological activity. Complementary atomic force microscopy supports the binding morphology outcomes as well as additional analytical techniques that indicate binding. These observations open opportunities to understand supramolecular assembly of proteins and other biomacromolecules at the single chain level with highly charged polyelectrolytes for vaccines as well as important to developing fields such as polyelectrolyte complex coacervation.
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