Leveraging β-Adrenergic Receptor Signaling Blockade for Improved Cancer Immunotherapy Through Biomimetic Nanovaccine

Small. 2023 Apr;19(14):e2207029. doi: 10.1002/smll.202207029. Epub 2023 Jan 26.

Abstract

The establishment of effective antitumor immune responses of vaccines is mainly limited by insufficient priming tumor infiltration of T cells and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Targeting β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) signaling exerts promising benefits on reversing the suppressive effects directly on T cells, but it appears to have considerably limited antitumor performance when combined with vaccine-based immunotherapies. Herein, a tumor membrane-coated nanoplatform for codelivery of adjuvant CpG and propranolol (Pro), a β-AR inhibitor is designed. The biomimetic nanovaccine displayed an improved accumulation in lymph nodes and sufficient drug release, thereby inducing dendritic cell maturation and antigen presentation. Meanwhile, the integration of vaccination and blockade of β-AR signaling not only promoted the priming of the naive CD8+ T cells and effector T cell egress from lymph nodes, but also alleviated the immunosuppressive TME by decreasing the frequency of immunosuppressive cells and increasing the tumor infiltration of B cells and NK cells. Consequently, the biomimetic nanovaccines outperformed greater prophylactic and therapeutic efficacy than nanovaccines without Pro encapsulation in B16-F10 melanoma mice. Taken together, the work explored a biomimetic nanovaccine for priming tumor infiltration of T cells and immunosuppressive TME regulation, offering tremendous potential for a combined β-AR signaling-targeting strategy in cancer immunotherapy.

Keywords: T cells; biomimetic; nanovaccines; tumor microenvironments; β-adrenergic receptors.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biomimetics
  • Cancer Vaccines*
  • Dendritic Cells
  • Immunotherapy
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Nanoparticles*
  • Neoplasms* / drug therapy
  • Propranolol / pharmacology
  • Receptors, Adrenergic, beta
  • Signal Transduction
  • Tumor Microenvironment

Substances

  • Receptors, Adrenergic, beta
  • Propranolol
  • Cancer Vaccines