Lutz EA, Jailkhani N, Momin N, Huang Y, Sheen A, Kang BH, Wittrup KD, Hynes RO. Intratumoral nanobody-IL-2 fusions that bind the tumor extracellular matrix suppress solid tumor growth in mice.
PNAS NEXUS 2022;
1:pgac244. [PMID:
36712341 PMCID:
PMC9802395 DOI:
10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac244]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Confining cytokine exposure to the tumors would greatly enhance cancer immunotherapy safety and efficacy. Immunocytokines, cytokines fused to tumor-targeting antibodies, have been developed with this intention, but without significant clinical success to date. A critical limitation is uptake by receptor-expressing cells in the blood, that decreases the dose at the tumor and engenders toxicity. Small-format immunocytokines, constructed with antibody fragments, are hypothesized to improve tumor specificity due to rapid systemic clearance. However, effective design criteria for small-format immunocytokines need further examination. Here, we engineer small interleukin-2 (IL-2) immunocytokines fused to nanobodies with nanomolar to picomolar affinities for the tumor-specific EIIIB domain of fibronectin (also known as EDB). Upon intravenous delivery into immunocompetent mice, such immunocytokines led to similar tumor growth delay as size-matched untargeted IL-2. Intratumoral (i.t.) delivery imparted improved survival dependent on affinity to EIIIB. I.t. administration offers a promising avenue to deliver small-format immunocytokines, given effective affinity for the tumor microenvironment.
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