The highly immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) in solid tumors often dampens the efficacy of immunotherapy.
In a study conducted by research team led by Prof. MA Guanghui at University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Institute of Process Engineering of Chinese Academy of Sciences, bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are demonstrated as powerful immunostimulants for TME reprogramming. To overcome the obstacles of antibody‐dependent clearance and high toxicity induced by OMVs upon intravenous injection (a classic clinically relevant delivery mode), calcium phosphate (CaP) shells are employed to cover the surface of OMVs, which enables potent OMV‐based TME reprograming without side effects. Meanwhile, the pH‐sensitive CaP shells facilitate the neutralization of acidic TME, leading to highly beneficial M2‐to‐M1 polarization of macrophages for improved antitumor effect. Moreover, the outer shells can be integrated with functional components like folic acid or photosensitizer agents, which facilitates the use of the OMV‐based platform in combination therapies for a synergic therapeutic effect.
This work was recently published in Advanced Materials.PhD student QING Shuang at University of Chinese Academy of Sciences is the first author, Prof. MA Guanghui and Prof. WEI Wei at Institute of Process Engineering of Chinese Academy of Sciences are the corresponding authors. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key R&D Program of China, and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. All animal protocols were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees at the Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
