Autologous patient-derived exhausted nano T-cells exploit tumor immune evasion to engage an effective cancer therapy

BACKGROUND

Active targeting by surface-modified nanoplatforms enables a more precise and elevated accumulation of nanoparticles within the tumor, thereby enhancing drug delivery and efficacy for a successful cancer treatment. However, surface functionalization involves complex procedures that increase costs and timelines, presenting challenges for clinical implementation. Biomimetic nanoparticles (BNPs) have emerged as unique drug delivery platforms that overcome the limitations of actively targeted nanoparticles. Nevertheless, BNPs coated with unmodified cells show reduced functionalities such as specific tumor targeting, decreasing the therapeutic efficacy. Those challenges can be overcome by engineering non-patient-derived cells for BNP coating, but these are complex and cost-effective approaches that hinder their wider clinical application. Here we present an immune-driven strategy to improve nanotherapeutic delivery to tumors. Our unique perspective harnesses T-cell exhaustion and tumor immune evasion to develop a groundbreaking new class of BNPs crafted from exhausted T-cells (NExT) of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients by specific culture methods without sophisticated engineering.

METHODS

NExT were generated by coating PLGA (poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)) nanoparticles with TNBC-derived T-cells exhausted in vitro by acute activation. Physicochemical characterization of NExT was made by dynamic light scattering, electrophoretic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy, and preservation and orientation of immune checkpoint receptors by flow cytometry. The efficacy of chemotherapy-loaded NExT was assessed in TNBC cell lines in vitro. In vivo toxicity was made in CD1 mice. Biodistribution and therapeutic activity of NExT were determined in cell-line- and autologous patient-derived xenografts in immunodeficient mice.

RESULTS

We report a cost-effective approach with a good performance that provides NExT naturally endowed with immune checkpoint receptors (PD1, LAG3, TIM3), augmenting specific tumor targeting by engaging cognate ligands, enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of chemotherapy, and disrupting the PD1/PDL1 axis in an immunotherapy-like way. Autologous patient-derived NExT revealed exceptional intratumor accumulation, heightened chemotherapeutic index and efficiency, and targeted the tumor stroma in a PDL1+ patient-derived xenograft model of triple-negative breast cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

These advantages underline the potential of autologous patient-derived NExT to revolutionize tailored adoptive cancer nanotherapy and chemoimmunotherapy, which endorses their widespread clinical application of autologous patient-derived NExT.

N-aryltetrahydroisoquinoline derivatives as HA-CD44 interaction inhibitors: Design, synthesis, computational studies, and antitumor effect

Hyaluronic acid (HA) plays a crucial role in tumor growth and invasion through its interaction with cluster of differentiation 44 (CD44), a non-kinase transmembrane glycoprotein, among other hyaladherins. CD44 expression is elevated in many solid tumors, and its interaction with HA is associated with cancer and angiogenesis. Despite efforts to inhibit HA-CD44 interaction, there has been limited progress in the development of small molecule inhibitors. As a contribution to this endeavour, we designed and synthesized a series of N-aryltetrahydroisoquinoline derivatives based on existing crystallographic data available for CD44 and HA. Hit 2e was identified within these structures for its antiproliferative effect against two CD44⁺ cancer cell lines, and two new analogs (5 and 6) were then synthesized and evaluated as CD44-HA inhibitors by applying computational and cell-based CD44 binding studies. Compound 2-(3,4,5-trimethoxybenzyl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolin-5-ol (5) has an EC₅₀ value of 0.59 μM against MDA-MB-231 cells and is effective to disrupt the integrity of cancer spheroids and reduce the viability of MDA-MB-231 cells in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggest lead 5 as a promising candidate for further investigation in cancer treatment.

Selective Anticancer Therapy Based on a HA-CD44 Interaction Inhibitor Loaded on Polymeric Nanoparticles

Hyaluronic acid (HA), through its interactions with the cluster of differentiation 44 (CD44), acts as a potent modulator of the tumor microenvironment, creating a wide range of extracellular stimuli for tumor growth, angiogenesis, invasion, and metastasis. An innovative antitumor treatment strategy based on the development of a nanodevice for selective release of an inhibitor of the HA-CD44 interaction is presented. Computational analysis was performed to evaluate the interaction of the designed tetrahydroisoquinoline-ketone derivative (JE22) with CD44 binding site. Cell viability, efficiency, and selectivity of drug release under acidic conditions together with CD44 binding capacity, effect on cell migration, and apoptotic activity were successfully evaluated. Remarkably, the conjugation of this CD44 inhibitor to the nanodevice generated a reduction of the dosis required to achieve a significant therapeutic effect.

Nanomedicine as a Promising Tool to Overcome Immune Escape in Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most common type of malignancy and leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide. Despite the current revolutionary advances in the field of cancer immunotherapy, clinical response in breast cancer is frequently below expectations, in part due to various mechanisms of cancer immune escape that produce tumor variants that are resistant to treatment. Thus, a further understanding of the molecular events underlying immune evasion in breast cancer may guarantee a significant improvement in the clinical success of immunotherapy. Furthermore, nanomedicine provides a promising opportunity to enhance the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy by improving the delivery, retention and release of immunostimulatory agents in targeted cells and tumor tissues. Hence, it can be used to overcome tumor immune escape and increase tumor rejection in numerous malignancies, including breast cancer. In this review, we summarize the current status and emerging trends in nanomedicine-based strategies targeting cancer immune evasion and modulating the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, including the inhibition of immunosuppressive cells in the tumor area, the activation of dendritic cells and the stimulation of the specific antitumor T-cell response.

Development of a nanotechnology-based approach for capturing and detecting nucleic acids by using flow cytometry

Nucleic acid-based molecular diagnosis has gained special importance for the detection and early diagnosis of genetic diseases as well as for the control of infectious disease outbreaks. The development of systems that allow for the detection and analysis of nucleic acids in a low-cost and easy-to-use way is of great importance. In this context, we present a combination of a nanotechnology-based approach with the already validated dynamic chemical labeling (DCL) technology, capable of reading nucleic acids with single-base resolution. This system allows for the detection of biotinylated molecular products followed by simple detection using a standard flow cytometer, a widely used platform in clinical and molecular laboratories, and therefore, is easy to implement. This proof-of-concept assay has been developed to detect mutations in KRAS codon 12, as these mutations are highly important in cancer development and cancer treatments.

Amplification-free profiling of microRNA-122 biomarker in DILI patient serums, using the luminex MAGPIX system

Dynamic chemical labelling is a single-base specific method to enable detection and quantification of micro-Ribonucleic Acids in biological fluids without extraction and pre-amplification. In this study, dynamic chemical labelling was combined with the Luminex MAGPIX system to profile levels of microRNA-122 biomarker in serum from patients with Drug-Induced Liver Injury.

A PCR-free technology to detect and quantify microRNAs directly from human plasma

A novel sensitive, specific and rapid method for the detection and quantification of microRNAs without requiring extraction from their biological sources is now available using a novel chemical based, PCR-free technology for nucleic acid testing. In this study, we both demonstrate how this method can be used to profile miR-451a, an important miRNA in erythropoiesis, and compare with the gold standard RT-qPCR.

Cellular response to empty and palladium-conjugated amino-polystyrene nanospheres uptake: a proteomic study

Amino polystyrene nanospheres are shown to be efficient and controllable delivery devices, capable of transporting several bioactive cargoes. Recently, the design of a new device for prodrug activation, using these nanospheres with palladium encapsulated onto them, has been developed successfully. To study the influence of the cellular uptake of these nanodevices, we investigated the cellular response of human embryonic kidney cells (HEK-293T) and murine fibroblasts (L929) treated with empty or palladium-conjugated amino polystyrene nanospheres. To identify differentially expressed proteins, we performed an exhaustive proteomic analysis. In accordance with genomic data previously obtained, the uptake of the empty nanospheres did not induce significant variation in protein expression levels. Following the treatment with palladium-conjugated nanospheres, some changes in protein profiles in both cell lines were observed; these alterations affect proteins involved in cell metabolism and intracellular transport. No key regulator of the cell cycle result was differentially expressed after the treatment, confirming that these innovative drug delivery systems are harmless and well tolerated by the cells.

Number of Nanoparticles per Cell through a Spectrophotometric Method - A key parameter to Assess Nanoparticle-based Cellular Assays

Engineered nanoparticles (eNPs) for biological and biomedical applications are produced from functionalised nanoparticles (NPs) after undergoing multiple handling steps, giving rise to an inevitable loss of NPs. Herein we present a practical method to quantify nanoparticles (NPs) number per volume in an aqueous suspension using standard spectrophotometers and minute amounts of the suspensions (up to 1 μL). This method allows, for the first time, to analyse cellular uptake by reporting NPs number added per cell, as opposed to current methods which are related to solid content (w/V) of NPs. In analogy to the parameter used in viral infective assays (multiplicity of infection), we propose to name this novel parameter as multiplicity of nanofection.

Microsphere-based intracellular sensing of caspase-3/7 in apoptotic living cells

A novel multifunctional probe to monitor intracellular enzymatic activity in living cells is successfully developed. Their use as accurate intracellular sensors by conjugation of an internal control (that gives an extra feature to both evaluate cellular-uptake efficiency and track probes over time) is reported. In particular, a specific application of these multifunctional microspheres as sensors of caspase-3/7 to monitor apoptosis by flow cytometry is described. The preparation of these devices together with a kinetic study towards caspase-3 and caspase-7 and their evaluation as flow cytometry probe in apoptotic living cells are reported.

The use of solid supports to generate nucleic acid carriers

Nucleic acids are the foundation stone of all cellular processes. Consequently, the use of DNA or RNA to treat genetic and acquired disorders (so called gene therapy) offers enormous potential benefits. The restitution of defective genes or the suppression of malignant genes could target a range of diseases, including cancers, inherited diseases (cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, etc.), and viral infections. However, this strategy has a major barrier: the size and charge of nucleic acids largely restricts their transit into eukaryotic cells. Potential strategies to solve this problem include the use of a variety of natural and synthetic nucleic acid carriers. Driven by the aim and ambition of translating this promising therapeutic approach into the clinic, researchers have been actively developing advanced delivery systems for nucleic acids for more than 20 years. A decade ago we began our investigations of solid-phase techniques to construct families of novel nucleic acid carriers for transfection. We envisaged that the solid-phase synthesis of polycationic dendrimers and derivatized polyamimes would offer distinct advantages over solution phase techniques. Notably in solid phase synthesis we could take advantage of mass action and streamlined purification procedures, while simplifying the handling of compounds with high polarities and plurality of functional groups. Parallel synthesis methods would also allow rapid access to libraries of compounds with improved purities and yields over comparable solution methodologies and facilitate the development of structure activity relationships. We also twisted the concept of the solid-phase support on its head: we devised miniaturized solid supports that provided an innovative cell delivery vehicle in their own right, carrying covalently conjugated cargos (biomolecules) into cells. In this Account, we summarize the main outcomes of this series of chemically related projects.

Investigation of microsphere-mediated cellular delivery by chemical, microscopic and gene expression analysis

Amino functionalized cross-linked polystyrene microspheres of well defined sizes (0.2-2 mum) have been prepared and shown to be efficient and controllable delivery devices, capable of transporting anything from small dye molecules to bulky proteins into cells. However, the specific mechanism of cellular entry is largely unknown and widely variant from study to study. As such, chemical, biological and microscopic methods are used to elucidate the mechanism of cellular uptake for polystyrene microspheres of 0.2, 0.5 and 2 mum in mouse melanoma cells. Uptake is found to be wholly unreliant upon energetic processes, while lysosomal and endosomal tracking agents failed to show co-localisation with lysosomes/endosomes, suggesting a non-endocytic uptake pathway. To further explore the consequences of microsphere uptake, gene expression profiling is used to determine if there is a transcriptional response to "beadfection" in both murine and human cells. None of the common transcriptional responses to enhanced endocytosis are observed in beadfected cells, further supporting a non-endocytic uptake mechanism. Furthermore, the microspheres are noted to have a limited interaction with cells at a transcriptional level, supporting them as a non-toxic delivery vehicle.

Microspheres as a vehicle for biomolecule delivery to neural stem cells

Neural stem cells (NSC) are a valuable model system for understanding the intrinsic and extrinsic controls for self-renewal and differentiation choice. They also offer a platform for drug screening and neurotoxicity studies, and hold promise for cell replacement therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Fully exploiting the potential of this experimental tool often requires the manipulation of intrinsic cues of interest using transfection methods, to which NSC are relatively resistant. In this paper, we show that mouse and human NSC readily take up polystyrene-based microspheres which can be loaded with a range of chemical or biological cargoes. This uptake can take place in the undifferentiated stage without affecting NSC proliferation and their capacity to give rise to neurons and glia. We demonstrate that beta-galactosidase-loaded microspheres could be efficiently introduced into NSC with no apparent toxic effect, thus providing proof-of-concept for the use of microspheres as an alternative biomolecule delivery system.

pH sensing in living cells using fluorescent microspheres

Intracellular pH in living cells is measured in real time at the single cell level using fluorescently covalently loaded microspheres as efficient carrier systems and stable sensors. The use of these sensors immobilized covalently onto polymeric particles allows analysis of intracellular pH flux over long period of time and eliminates the disadvantages such as dilution within the cell, elimination via leakage or compartmentalization.

(Q)SAR studies to design new human choline kinase inhibitors as antiproliferative drugs

Most of the signal transduction pathways are mediated by protein kinases regulating every aspect of cell function. Mutations which deregulate their expression or their function or both result in cancers. Therefore, protein kinase inhibitors have become the focus of development of new therapies for cancer. A comprehensive review of Choline kinase (ChoK) was published by us in 2003. Since then, molecular information of ChoK inhibitors has been accumulated. In this review, we intend to summarize the new lines of evidence that will include the design of the most active antiproliferative agents so far described against ChoK. Studies have been aimed at the establishment of structure-activity relationships and the structural parameters that define ChoK inhibitory and antiproliferative activities of a set of twenty-five acyclic biscationic pyridophane and forty acyclic biscationic quinolinephane compounds. The corresponding QSAR equation was obtained for the whole set of bisquinolinium compounds for the antiproliferative activity, taking into consideration the electronic parameter sigma(R) of R(4), the molar refractivity (MR) of R(8), and the lipophilic parameters clog P and pi(linker). The most potent antiproliferative agent shows an IC(50) = 0.45 microM, predicted by the QSAR equation, whilst its experimental value is IC(50) = 0.20 microM. Finally, toxicity assays were performed for the most promising compounds because of their interesting antiproliferative activities [IC(50 HT-29) = 0.70, 0.80, 1.50 and 1.90 microM] and low toxicity [LD(50) = 16.7, 12.5, > 25 and > 20 mg/kg of mouse]. These biological activities justify further analysis for antitumoral assays under in vivo conditions.

1H and 13C spectral assignment of symmetrical bis[(4-aminosubstituted)quinolinium] derivatives

1H and 13C NMR spectroscopic data of both the quinolinium ring and the spacers for 32 symmetrical bisquinolinium compounds were assigned by a combination of one- and two-dimensional experiments (DEPT, HMBC, HMQC). The compounds have electron-releasing groups at position 4 of the quinolinium ring, with several arylalkyl linkers such as the 3,3'-, 4,4'-bis(methylene)biphenyl and 4,4'-bis(methylene)bibenzyl moieties.

Synthesis and cellular uptake of cell delivering PNA-peptide conjugates

The synthesis and cellular uptake of fluorescently labelled PNA-peptide conjugates is described; Dde/Mmt protected PNA monomers, fully orthogonal to Fmoc chemistry, were used to develop a flexible strategy to give Peptide Nucleic Acids conjugated to tri- and hepta-arginine and the short basic Tat(48-57) peptide as examples of cellular penetrating peptides, thereby allowing efficient cellular delivery of PNA into cells.

Towards a model for the inhibition of choline kinase by a new type of inhibitor

Bispyridinium cyclophanes are novel templates for human choline kinase inhibitors. Molecular modelling of these compounds suggests three anchorage places at the binding site of the enzyme: (i) two anionic centres of the enzyme active site separated from each other at a distance of approximately 6.2 A that bind the two positively charged nitrogen atoms; (ii) a wide hydrophobic pocket that is fulfilled by the upper linker, the benzene ring that links the two amino groups; and (iii) a smaller hydrophobic pocket that can accommodate the lower benzene ring that links both benzylic carbons. This study may be useful for the development of more potent inhibitors of the enzyme.

Influence of the linker in bispyridium compounds on the inhibition of human choline kinase

Studies have been aimed to establish the structure-activity relationship that define choline kinase (ChoK) inhibitory potency and antiproliferative activity of a set of 25 bispyridinium compounds with electron-releasing groups at position 4. Here we report that, according to their inhibitory activities against human ChoK, the enzymatic inhibitory potency is closely related to the size of the linker, the 3,3'-biphenyl moiety being the most suitable. The N-methylanilino and its derivatives, 4-chloro-N-methylanilino and 3,5-dichloro-N-methylanilino, render higher ChoK inhibitory and antiproliferative activities against the HT-29 human colon cancer cell line.

Conformational Dynamics of a Bispyridinium Cyclophane

A complete study of the conformational behavior of 4,8-diaza-3(1,4),9(4,1)-dipyridina-1,6(1,4)-dibenzenacyclodecaphan-3(1),9(1)-bis(ilium) bishexafluorophosphate is described. This study allows us to conclude that the process observed by which the different chemical shifts of the pyridinium protons show coalescence at a high-temperature 1H NMR is the rotation around the C-N bond, whereas the conformational equilibrium between the four conformers is produced at low temperature.

Bispyridinium cyclophanes: novel templates for human choline kinase inhibitors

The synthesis and biological activities of four novel bispyridinium cyclophanes as choline kinase (ChoK) inhibitors are presented. Their synthetic methodology has been optimized according to dilution, temperature, and reaction time and provides pure bispyridinium cyclophanes in high yields very easily. One of these cyclophanes (6, 4,8-diaza-3(1,4),9(4,1)-dipyridina-1(1,4),6(1,3)-dibenzenacyclodecaphan-3(1),9(1)-bis(ilium) dibromide) has an IC(50(ChoK)) of 0.3 microM and is the most potent human ChoK inhibitor described to date.

QSAR-derived choline kinase inhibitors: how rational can antiproliferative drug design be?

This review presents an overview of Choline Kinase (ChoK) inhibitors with antiproliferative activity. The consideration of ChoK as a novel target for the development of new anticancer drugs is justified. The synthesis of several derivatives based on structural modifications of hemicholinium-3 (HC-3) is not accompanied by potentiation of the neurological toxicity of HC-3. The increment of both ChoK inhibitory and antiproliferative activities was successfully obtained by the two following changes: a) substitution of the oxazonium moiety of HC-3 by several aromatic heterocycles, and b) using the 1,2-ethylene(bisbenzyl) moiety instead of the 4,4'-biphenyl fragment. In an attempt to understand the ChoK inhibitory activity, a quantitative structure-activity relationship was developed. The QSAR equations have described the forces involved in quantitative terms. The electron characteristic of the substituent at position 4 of the heterocycle and the lipophilic character of the whole molecule were found to significantly affect the antitumour activity in compounds 17-95. Trispyridinium compounds 91-95 are more potent than the bispyridinium ones 87-89 as ChoK inhibitors. Nevertheless, 91-95 are less active than 87-89 as antiproliferative agents because the latter show better lipophilicities to cross the cytosolic membranes. Inhibition of the growth of human tumours in nude mice has been demonstrated: Antitumour activity of compound 64 against human HT-29 produced a decrease of up to 70% in the size of the tumour in nude mice. These results indicate that ChoK can be used as a general target for anticancer drug design against Ras-dependent tumourigenesis.